Adoption rights; what employers need to know

According to the charity Adoption UK there are nearly 3,000 children in care waiting to be adopted, and as charities seek to raise awareness of this during National Adoption week (17-23 October 2022), employers may get questions about employment rights related to adoption. Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment law with Ware &Kay explains how ‘Family-friendly employment rights support employees adopting looked-after children, as well as children adopted through surrogacy arrangements or from overseas. Although employment rights for adopting parents lagged behind those of a biological mother, adopting parents now have broadly the same entitlement to leave, pay and legal protection.’   Who is entitled to adoption employment rights? An employee may be adopting on their own, with a spouse, civil partner or in an unmarried couple, whether same or different sex. Adoption employment rights apply to…

Protecting your assets against the impact of relationship breakdown

Cohabitation Agreements The data from the ONS shows that in 2019 the number of marriages decreased by 6.4% on the previous year.  The figures also show that in 2019, 18.4% of families were cohabiting couples.  That figure rose to 22.9% in 2021.  It seems that more and more couples are choosing to live together as a form of commitment rather than getting married.     There is a common misconception that couples who live together automatically become ‘common law’ spouses, especially if they have children or property together.  Many believe that they have the same rights as a married couple.  Unfortunately this is not the case, irrespective of the length of their relationship.  So what happens to the parties’ assets on separation?  At present, where there is property owned by one or both of the parties, cohabiting…

Litigation fixed costs: what are they and how will it affect your dispute?

On 6 September 2021 The Ministry of Justice confirmed that it intended to implement proposals for fixed recoverable costs for ‘fast-track cases’ and in most money claims worth up to £100,000. How will that impact on claims in the civil courts? Since the 2021 announcement progress in implementing the new costs regime has been slow but it now seems likely that fixed costs for most claims worth up to £100,000 will be coming next year and some commentators predicting that the fixed costs regime will be extended to cover cases up to a value of £250,000, possibly within the next 5 years. What are fixed costs? The proposals are intended to ‘fix’ the amount of costs that a successful party can recover from a losing party. Historically a successful party awarded their costs nearly always suffered…

How do you stop someone gaining rights over your land?

Rights may be acquired over your land if you either fail to address unauthorised use by third parties or give permission to others to use your land without seeking professional advice. How can you avoid this occurring? Where land is unregistered, as is often still the case with farmland, in certain circumstances someone occupying land belonging to someone else without their permission (a squatter) can after 12 years ‘squatting’ acquire ‘title’ to the land by their adverse possession. You could avoid this happening on your land by regular inspection of your boundaries and ensuring that you have an up to date plan of your land. If your land is unregistered then registering title at the Land Registry will involve a thorough review of your land and can be a useful precautionary measure. Since 2003…