In England & Wales the Courts increasingly view mediation as an essential step in the dispute resolution process and expect parties to engage in it where possible. Where a party refuses to do so, the Court can may impose cost consequences. This encourages parties to properly consider mediation.

Equity Release may be a good option for homeowners to explore who are aged over 55 and are looking for extra income or a lump sum payment for various reasons such as carrying out repairs to their property, paying off any existing debts or simply to use for day to day expenses.

Liam Brooke has joined Ramsdens Solicitors as a partner to lead its growing will, trust and estate disputes practice.

The recent case of Langley v Qin has brought even further attention to the Court’s lack of jurisdiction on the issue of ‘predatory marriages’.

Whether that adoption should be “open” (i.e. providing or permitting some form of direct contact and/or more frequent indirect contact to continue between a birth parent and the child) or “closed” (as in none or minimal contact), is a very difficult topic both for social work and legal professionals.

Ramsdens Solicitors is continuing to build its real estate team with the appointment of Ian Hartley as partner based across the firm’s Leeds and York offices.

We are happy to announce that we have recently promoted two of our team members; Ian Miles to Senior Associate and Kirsty Dunn to Associate.

With over 20 years’ experience as a private client lawyer, Mr Knowles joins from the York office of Knights, where he was a partner in the tax and wills and estates teams. He also spent more than two years as a partner with Langleys Solicitors and over six years at Weightmans.