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Crime: Benefit Fraud

Helen Beaumont, 37, also worked on alien invasion movie Attack The Block, music videos for Jarvis Cocker and Scouting For Girls, and West End productions of Billy Elliot and Singing In The Rain.

Her CV also boasts a string of credits for work for the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Young Vic, the BBC and E4. But Beaumont, of Highgate, north London, did not disclose her work or savings of more than £16,000 when applying for housing benefit and jobseeker’s allowance.

An investigation by Haringey council and the Department for Work and Pensions revealed that Beaumont, who studied for a BA in art history and design at Camberwell College of Art, illegally claimed nearly £20,000 in benefits between May 2009 and November 2012.

But she escaped jail when she appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court this week. After admitting two charges of fraud by failing to disclose capital, she was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

We have solicitors local to this magistrates’ court who have been successfully defending such prosecutions for many years.

Haringey councillor Jason Arthur said afterwards that Beaumont, who has repaid the cash, “was living a real-life fantasy”, but she “should have known better than anyone that fairytale villains never get away with it”.

This article appeared in the Evening Standard on 11/7/14.

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Family Law Disputes – Legal Aid Cuts

Former High Court judge Baroness Butler-Sloss has criticised the Government over cuts to legal help for dealing with personal family law disputes.

In her very first Lords speech since being appointed to lead the coalition Government’s questions into allegations that establishment figures conspired to cover up child abuse, she alerted the cuts “block the courts” and “create delay”.

Lady Butler-Sloss dealt with calls yesterday to step down from the questions after reports that her sibling Sir Michael Havers tried to prevent ex-MP Geoffrey Dickens airing claims about a diplomat in parliament in the 1980s.

But the Prime Minister supported her and Lady Butler-Sloss refused to give up.

Today, in a discussion on the UK’s legal systems, the former president of the family department and independent crossbencher welcomed much of the family regulation presented over the last 25 years.

But she said the “bad” part was that from April there had actually been no legal aid in private family law disputes, including youngsters and finance, with the exception of those involving domestic violence or child abuse.

Lady Butler-Sloss said divorce was a “unpleasant process” for all but in a small minority of cases the former relationship turned “corrosive” with one or both previous partners using the courts to combat their failed relationship.

Some disliked their partners so much that they could not come to any arrangement and mediation would not work in these conditions.

She said men and women, inexperienced in the law, battling their failed relationships, were appearing unrepresented before the courts due to the cuts.

Courts faced with “provider bags of unsorted and disorganised papers” discovered the task “huge and unmanageable”.

“It obstructs the courts. It creates delay and I hope the Government would pay attention to the reality it is not cost effective.”.

Lady Butler-Sloss added: “We have Magna Carta celebrations next year and they will sound hollow in the face of the failure to be able to do justice in private family law disputes.”

Original Article

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Wills and Contentious Probate: Have you made a Will?

Tanya Vasileva looked after her friend, Gertrude Stanley, in the years before her death at the age of 89.

Mrs Stanley, who had fled to London from the Nazis on the eve of the Second World War, believed she had no living relatives after her sister died in a concentration camp.

She promised her flat to Miss Vasileva in return for her years of care. After the widow’s death, in December 2009, she moved in.

But Mrs Stanley had not made a will, and a legal wrangle ensued after Peter Birchwood, a professional genealogist who has appeared on BBC series Heir Hunters, traced two distant cousins of Mrs Stanley.

Heir hunter: Peter Birchwood

Mr Birchwood, acting on behalf of Mrs Stanley’s estate, argued Miss Vasileva was a “trespasser” who should be ousted from the property and made to pay £50,000 for her years of rent-free occupation. But a judge ruled Mrs Stanley had promised the flat to her carer and said Miss Vasileva had “done her best” to look after the widow.

Judge Mark Raeside QC awarded Miss Vasileva £20,000 from the estate and dismissed Mr Birchwood’s financial claim against her. But he also estimated the value of the care provided by Miss Vasileva to be only £70,000, compared with the £160,000 value of the flat, and said she would have to leave by December so it could go back to the estate.

The High Court heard how Mrs Stanley fled Vienna and arrived in London in May 1939, when she was 19. She and her husband, Lawrence, lived together in their Belsize Park flat for 48 years, until his death in 1994. They did not have any children.

Despite her fortune, most of which was discovered in bank accounts and shares after her death, the widow lived a frugal existence and worried she would run out of money, the court heard. In 2002, the court heard, Mrs Stanley met Miss Vasileva at the supermarket where the younger woman worked. Miss Vasileva, who had moved to the UK from Bulgaria the year before, said they struck up a friendship after she delivered Mrs Stanley’s shopping.

After a stay in hospital in May 2005, Mrs Stanley phoned Miss Vasileva and asked if she could come to collect her. She did not want any professional carers and asked Miss Vasileva if she would help her stay in her own flat.

It was then that Mrs Stanley first said she wanted her friend to have her flat after she died — a promise she repeated many more times, the court heard.

Miss Vasileva looked after Mrs Stanley — including cooking, cleaning and helping her bathe — until she went into a care home in April 2009.

After the case Miss Vasileva said: “We weren’t just friends, we were more like grandmother and granddaughter, we were very close. She will always be in my heart.”

Original reporting by the London Evening Standard on the 8/7/14.

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DNA Tests: Paternity – Family Law

Justice minister Simon Hughes discloses steps aimed at dealing with increase of unrepresented litigants following cuts to legal help.

A DNA swab test

A DNA swab test. Simon Hughes said that we are funding DNA tests which will figure out who the dad is instead of having three days of legal argument.

Free DNA tests are being offered to accelerate resolution of conflicts over the paternity of kids, the justice minister Simon Hughes has revealed.

Pilot programs launched in Taunton and Bristol belong to a campaign aimed at taking on difficultiess in family courts, which have been inundated with unrepresented litigants following cuts to legal aid.

Speaking at a Westminster Legal Policy Forum debate in London, Hughes asked for all youngsters over 10 to be enabled to take part in separation cases so that their views might be considered and recommended that family courts need to become recommendations centres to prevent excessive choice to legal representatives.

Those who consistently appear in the family courts would, according to the minister, in future be helped by the government’s Troubled Families Unit, headed by Louise Casey, which was arranged to expand its work from 120,000 to 400,000 households.

Hughes said: “We are funding DNA tests which will figure out the issue about who the father is instead of having three days of legal argument.”.

The Taunton and Bristol pilots, including one rural and one metropolitan area, was likewise offering free hair tests– made use of in alcohol and drug courts to assess whether people have been abusing alcohol or medicines.

The purpose was, likewise, to provide clear answers to common allegations and prevent hours of expensive legal argument and delay. The project is being run by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), but funded by the Ministry of Justice.

The president of the family court division, Sir James Munby, was recently compelled to adjourn a contact case because the father, a founded guilty sex culprit, was unrepresented and not able to pay a professional to challenge the mom’s evidence. The judge has asked the MoJ to solve the issue.

Susan Jacklin QC, chair of the Family Law Bar Association, stated many litigants in person felt “totally at sea, worried, nervous and stressed” when appearing without legal representation.

DNA Paternity Testing

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Highest Ever Conviction Rate For Domestic Violence Announced

Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions, is expected to announce that the conviction rate for domestic violence prosecutions has reached its highest ever level.

Figures due to be released will reveal that 74.6% of those prosecuted for domestic violence were convicted in 2013-4. This is 58,276 defendants. Domestic violence now makes up more than ten per cent of Crown Prosecution Service‘s total casework.

Prosecutions for offences of violence against women and girls overall also showed the highest ever conviction rate at 74.4%, and an 11% increase in the volume of defendants charged since 2012-13. Over 8,000 more cases than last year were brought to court, with over 6,500 more convictions.

Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said:

‘The conviction rate for domestic violence is higher than ever before. Three quarters of people who are prosecuted for domestic violence offences are now convicted. What’s more, nine in ten of the domestic violence convictions arise from guilty pleas meaning that the vast majority of victims are spared having to give evidence in court. I hope victims of these terrible offences will take some confidence from this, and that perpetrators will take note.

I am incredibly proud of what the CPS has achieved in recent years in tackling violence against women and girls. Taken as a whole, referrals from police are up, prosecutions are up, and convictions are up. This is in no small part due to the leadership shown by dedicated specialist coordinators in every CPS area and the determination of our prosecutors and case workers to see justice done for victims of crime. The work of external experts from organisations such as Women’s Aid and rape crisis centres has been invaluable locally and nationally to inform our policies and practice. We remain committed to building on our achievements further and continuing to address areas for improvement.’

The Solicitor General, Oliver Heald QC MP said:

‘Violence against women and girls is not acceptable, and those that commit violence need to know that they are not going to get away with it. Getting that message across is one of our key priorities and the criminal justice system has a key role to play acting as a deterrent to would-be offenders, and punishing those who do commit these crimes.

I’m pleased to see the vast improvement the CPS has made in handling their prosecutions for these sorts of crimes, and that we have the highest ever conviction rate in Domestic Violence cases. There is still more to do, but this is good news and shows what can be done when the whole criminal justice system works together to make improvements.’

Original reporting by Jordans – Family Law 2/7/14

To be recommended to strong family solicitors in London call us at Which Solicitor? – The Solicitors Information Service on 020 7483 4833.

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Do you HAVE to Pay Residential Service Charges to your Landlord?

All residential flat owners on long leases are faced with the usually bi-annual hurdle of paying service charges to their landlord but are they actually payable?

Leases contain clauses that permit the landlord to recover service charges in this manner on production of accounts certified by an accountant. However these accounts are prepared generally on an accruals basis and are of very little use to the tenant if they really wish to know when they are paying for an item, what they have paid and exactly how much was paid.

Existing legislation however permits the flat owner to force the landlord to produce a summary of costs incurred which also has to be certified by an accountant. This is enshrined in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 21. Failure of the landlord to produce such a detailed summary of costs to a private tenant is a criminal offence and can be prosecuted through the magistrates courts by the local housing authority. In practice, though, this is not enforced by many local authorities.

So how does this ‘reveal all’ mechanism work?

Firstly the tenant has to request such a summary of costs in writing either directly to the landlord or to the managing agent. The request can also be made on the tenant’s behalf by the secretary of the tenant’s association if desired. The summary has be to supplied to the tenant either one month after the request or within six months from the date of the end of the usual annual accounting period.

The summary must set out the costs in a way showing how they have been or will be reflected in demands for services charges and, in addition, shall summarise each of the following items, namely:
(a) any of the costs in respect of which no demand for payment was received by the landlord within the period
(b) any of the costs in respect of which:
(i) a demand for payment was so received, but
(ii) no payment was made by the landlord within that period, and
(a) any of the costs in respect of which:
(i) a demand for payment was so received, and
(ii) payment was made by the landlord within that period,
and specify the aggregate of any amounts received by the landlord down to the end of that period on account of service charges in respect of relevant dwellings and still standing to the credit of the tenants of those dwellings at the end of that period.

If the service charges are payable by the tenants of more than four dwellings, the summary shall be certified by a qualified accountant as:
(a) in his opinion a fair summary complying with the above requirements, and
(b) being sufficiently supported by accounts, receipts and other documents which have been produced to him.

Therefore a clear breakdown of the costs and when they were incurred and paid for has to be produced and certified by an accountant. This would make an inspection of the supporting accounts, receipts and other documents as provided by section 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 a transparent exercise.

The actual text of the section is:-

21. Request for summary of relevant costs

(1) A tenant may require the landlord in writing to supply him with a written summary of the costs incurred;
(a) if the relevant accounts are made up for periods of twelve months, in the last such period ending not later than the date of the request, or
(b) if the accounts are not so made up, in the period of twelve months ending with the date of the request,
and which are relevant costs in relation to the service charges payable or demanded as payable in that or any other period.

(2) If the tenant is represented by a recognised tenants’ association and he consents, the request may be made by the secretary of the association instead of by the tenant and may then be for the supply of the summary to the secretary.

(3) A request is duly served on the landlord if it is served on;
(a) an agent of the landlord named as such in the rent book or similar document, or
(b) the person who receives the rent on behalf of the landlord;
and a person on whom a request is so served shall forward it as soon as may be to the landlord.

(4) The landlord shall comply with the request within one month of the request or within six months of the end of the period referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b) whichever is the later.

(5) The summary shall state whether any of the costs relate to works in respect of which a grant has been or is to be paid under section 523 of the Housing Act 1985 (assistance for provision of separate service pipe for water supply) or any provision of Part I of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (grants, etc for renewal of private sector housing) or any corresponding earlier enactment, and set out the costs in a way showing how they have been or will be reflected in demands for services charges and, in addition, shall summarise each of the following items, namely:
(a) any of the costs in respect of which no demand for payment was received by the landlord within the period referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b).
(b) any of the costs in respect of which:
(i) a demand for payment was so received, but
(ii) no payment was made by the landlord within that period, and
(a) any of the costs in respect of which:
(i) a demand for payment was so received, and
(ii) payment was made by the landlord within that period,
and specify the aggregate of any amounts received by the landlord down to the end of that period on account of service charges in respect of relevant dwellings and still standing to the credit of the tenants of those dwellings at the end of that period.

(5A) In subsection (5) “relevant dwelling” means a dwelling whose tenant is either:
(a) the person by or with the consent of whom the request was made, or
(b) a person whose obligations under the terms of his lease as regards contributing to relevant costs relate to the same costs as the corresponding obligations of the person mentioned in paragraph (a) above relate to.

(5B) The summary shall state whether any of the costs relate to works which are included in the external works specified in a group repair scheme, within the meaning of Chapter II of Pt I of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 or any corresponding earlier enactment, in which the landlord participated or is participating as an assisted participant.

(6) If the service charges in relation to which the costs are relevant costs as mentioned in subsection (1) are payable by the tenants of more than four dwellings, the summary shall be certified by a qualified accountant as:
(a) in his opinion a fair summary complying with the requirements of subsection (5), and
(b) being sufficiently supported by accounts, receipts and other documents which have been produced to him.

Many residential landlord companies in London produce certified accounts that bear an accountants certificate with the accountant declaring that the attached accounts comply with section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 when the attached document is just a plain set of accounts produced in an accruals format with some misleading wording taken from the Act. Therefore the accountants ‘misdirect’ themselves.

If such accounts did in fact give all the required information as required by a summary of costs (and given your right to inspect all of the supporting documents i.e. everything that the accountant saw) would the accountant actually be able to certify them at all?

For advice on leasehold issues including enfranchisement contact us at Which Solicitor? – The Solicitors Information Service on 020 7483 4833.

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How to Cut the Cost of Moving – Cut Fees Not Corners

SOLICITORS conveyancing fees range dramatically. The Solicitors Information Service (020 7483 4833) provides a list of recommended solicitors.
The Solicitors Information Service says: “it is most important for you to find someone who is competent. Anyone charging less than £400 may not be offering a particularly good service, but very expensive firms are probably not any better than moderately priced ones.”

The Sunday Telegraph (May 1999) and The Times (October 1999)

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Moving – and Shaking at the Thought of the Cost

In the past, solicitors based their conveyancing fees on a percentage value of the house, but now, because of cut-throat competition, most offer a flat-rate fee . But be careful the cheapest are not necessarily the best, says Michael Morrison, director of the Solicitors Information Service. The service has a database of reliable solicitors and those on whom they receive negative comments are withdrawn from the list there are some firms who offer cut-price conveyancing and are known to you secretaries to do some of the work. They rely on volume and can afford the odd slip up. Just don’t let that slip up be you.

The Daily Telegraph (May 1999)

For a recommended conveyancing solicitor in London contact us at Which Solicitor? – The Solicitors Information Service on 020 7483 4833. formation Service on 020 7483 4833.

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End Of The Nightmare?

Two legal rulings will help thousands of flat owners caught up in service charge disputes with their landlords.
Two judges have now confirmed that service charge disputes between flat owners and their freehold landlords should be heard by a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal’s (LVT’s) not by county courts, in landmark judgements that should help thousands.
The second case involved Michael Morrison, who owns one of 133 flats in Oslo Court, Prince Albert Road, Regent’s Park London NW8. The freehold is owned by City and Country Properties, part of the Freshwater Group, one of the biggest landlords in London.
Morrison refused to pay a service charge demand for more than £6200 claiming that the cost of the works was unreasonable, and resulted from the landlords’ neglect of the property over many years.
Morrison, who runs the Solicitors Information Service, represented himself in court against Freshwater’s barrister, who opposed the case being transferred to the Tribunal. But Judge Lawrence had no hesitation in ordering that the case be heard by the LVT and awarding costs against Freshwater.
Solicitors are hoping that these judgements will begin to stop landlords using threats of expensive court action

Evening Standard (March 1998)

For a recommended solicitor in London for landlord and tenant, leasehold and enfranchisement matters contact us at Which Solicitor? – The Solicitors Information Service on 020 7483 4833.

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Number of cases began in family courts in England and Wales (first quarter of 2014 programs) dropped by 6 %

The number of cases began in family courts in England and Wales in very first quarter of 2014 programs 6 % drop year on year, according to mention

The Ministry of Justice has posted the most up to date stats on kind and quantity of cases that are received and refined through the court system of England and Wales in the very first quarter of 2014 January to March.

This report offers stats on activity in the county, family, magistrates’, Crown and other courts of England and Wales. These stats focus on 4 major categories: civil instances (omitting family members), household cases, criminal situations and judicial reviews. For this version there is also additional yearly details on the Appellate Courts and the Judiciary. The figures themselves offer a summary review of the quantity of situations dealt with by these courts gradually, with statistics likewise broken for the main kinds of instance entailed. The data are utilized to check court workloads, to assist in the development of policy, and their succeeding monitoring and assessment.

For this (June) version, extra yearly information exists for 2013 including the workload in the Appellate Courts, cases under the Mental Capacity Act, work in the Offices of the Supreme Court and varieties of magistrates and sitting days for the judiciary.

Family Cases

In January to March 2014, breakup composed 45 % of new situations in family courts, with private legislation contributing 19 % and economic solution 16 %. In overall, partnership failure instances make up over four-fifths of the courts’ caseload. A comparable photo is additionally viewed for the situations ended.

For a recommended family or divorce solicitor in London contact us at Which Solicitor? – The Solicitors Information Service on 020 7483 4833.

Crime: Benefit Fraud

Family Law Disputes – Legal Aid Cuts

Wills and Contentious Probate: Have you made a Will?

DNA Tests: Paternity – Family Law

A DNA swab test

Highest Ever Conviction Rate For Domestic Violence Announced

Do you HAVE to Pay Residential Service Charges to your Landlord?

How to Cut the Cost of Moving – Cut Fees Not Corners

Moving – and Shaking at the Thought of the Cost

End Of The Nightmare?

Number of cases began in family courts in England and Wales (first quarter of 2014 programs) dropped by 6 %

The number of cases began in family courts in England and Wales in very first quarter of 2014 programs 6 % drop year on year, according to mention

Family Cases

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