Hundreds of thousands of people with family law problems may no longer have access to free legal advice under government proposals that have recently been announced.

Although, as a firm, we do not offer legal aid, the government proposals has alerted us to the problems which many individuals with family issues may face in the future.

The proposals, published in a recent consultation paper, suggest the removal of whole areas of law from the scope of public funding e.g. divorcing couples will no longer be able to receive free legal representation for court cases, other than in cases where there is domestic violence or forced marriage, in a change ministers say should encourage mediation.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said: ‘I strongly believe that access to justice is the hallmark of a civilised society. But at more than £2bn each year, we currently have one of the most expensive legal aid systems in the world. This cannot continue.

‘Since the scheme was established in 1949, its scope has been widened far beyond what was originally intended. There has never been a substantive review of the entire system to ensure it is sustainable, proportionate and affordable.

‘I believe that the taxpayer should continue to provide legal aid to those who need it most and for serious issues. But the current system can encourage lengthy, acrimonious and sometimes unnecessary court proceedings, at taxpayers’ expense, which may not always ensure the best result for those involved.

‘The proposals I have outlined today suggest clear tough choices to ensure access to public funding in those cases that really require it, the protection of the most vulnerable in society and the efficient performance of the justice system.’

The plans are open for consultation until February 2011, Mr Clarke told MPs there was a compelling case for going back to first principles in reforming legal aid. It seems under the plans; the government estimates that £350m will be saved from the MoJ’s budget by 2014/15 if its proposals are implemented in full.

- Matthew

There has been a dramatic rise recently in relation to mortgage fraud and property fraud cases in the UK. This has lead to an increasing need for members of the public to be fully and completely informed about what to be aware of and how to avoid falling foul of a property fraud scam.

There are various ways in which Property fraud can be undertaken and normally this will involve a number of participants; some of which will not even know that they are being taken advantage of.

If you participate in a scheme that requires you to provide false or misleading information to a mortgage lender is of course mortgage fraud and is quite clearly a criminal offence.
There are two prominent kinds of mortgage fraud today: one involves a property fraud scam, the others are designed to squeeze money out of transactions involved when a property is exchanged between buyers.

There are many reasons why it is important to write a Will or for you to review your Will during divorce proceedings. The main reasons are as follows:-

• Separation with an existing Will – if you are still legally married or in a civil partnership i.e. prior to the divorce being finalised, property and any gifts bequeathed will still pass on as per the terms contained in your Will. Therefore, if you are separated and do not want your spouse or civil partner to be included in the Will then you may consider at this stage to make a new Will. Please be aware that even if you draft a new Will leaving your spouse and civil partner out of your Will, they may still be able to make a claim against your estate. However, they will have to show that they are financially dependant on you in order to make such a claim.

On 10 August 2010 the FSA published it’s long awaited policy statement on the sale of Payment Protection Insurance entitled: The assessment and redress of Payment Protection Insurance complaints.

Throughout the past decade it is thought that many lenders and finance brokers have routinely and systematically “mis-sold” PPI to borrowers. This has been done by a whole spectrum of lenders from the high street banks to the less well known sub-prime lenders who have pressured or mis-lead unsuspecting and vulnerable borrowers into paying £000’s for PPI which they did not want, did not need or could not use.

The phrase “adding insult to injury” comes to mind as many of the borrowers being mis-sold PPI were already in financial difficulty and seeking a way out by consolidating their debts into a more manageable monthly repayment. It could be argued that this desperation was exploited by the large sophisticated financial institutions.

It has been reported that the financial institutions have sought to deter the FSA and other regulators from enforcing new regulations and sanctions.

FSA findings:

The FSA found that there had been: “wide and deep evidence of weaknesses in PPI sales”.

Firms have been ordered to carry out a review of old complaints and consider compensation payments to borrowers where they have not even claimed. In our experience many people have not complained sooner because they were not even aware of the existence of the PPI on their loan. That is why we would urge everyone to look at their old loan agreements for PPI charges. Even if the loan is repaid there may still be possibility to claim if you feel that you have been mis-sold PPI.