The recent case of Mundell v Name 1, heard in the Court of Protection has ramifications for claims on divorce…

Over the years TV shows and popular culture have depicted storylines of people murdering wealthy family members in order to receive an early inheritance, or prevent it falling into the hands of someone else.

Sadly this is also true of real life, but can a person really benefit from their criminal actions like they do on the silver screen?

Most of us have some important documents like an original will or a power of attorney. If you keep these documents at home, there is a risk of loss if you are burgled, or of damage by flooding or fire.

Many people choose to store their original wills with their bank. Some banks charge for this service. Banks do not always provide a reliable service as wills can still be mislaid by them.

Many individuals include gifts in their wills that require an event to happen or an action to take place prior to a beneficiary inheriting (this is called a contingent gift). For example, a will may state that £10,000 is paid to every grandchild on attaining 21 years – which means that if a grandchild does not survive to his/her 21st birthday the gift will lapse (fail). The problem with contingent gifts is that they add complexity to wills and, sometimes, create difficult if not impossible conditions for potential beneficiaries to meet.

There has recently been a re-emergence of back and forth Copyright cases in the news involving musicians such as Katy Perry, Robin Thicke, Led Zeppelin and Ed Sheeran to name but a few.

For those unfamiliar with Copyright, this is a particular form of legal protection used to stop individuals from copying, performing, distributing, selling, publishing or licensing a person’s intellectual property (I.e. music, books, artwork etc.) without their permission.