Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from all the Partners and Staff at Morgans!
Our office is closed from 1pm on Friday the 22nd of December and will reopen at 9am on Wednesday the 3rd of January.
We look forward to seeing you in 2018.
Due to our continued expansion, Morgans are recruiting a Receptionist to join our team.
Our receptionist will be responsible for the maintenance of a professional reception area. Smart presentation with excellent communication skills and customer focus essential. The role will include the following:
• Covering reception, answering phone calls, answering queries, and taking messages
• Greeting visitors to the office in a friendly, professional manner
• Responsible for courier deliveries and collections
• Diary management and general administration tasks
• Order and maintain stationery and office supplies
The successful candidate will have:
• Proven front of house experience in a professional environment
• Experience of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and case management systems
• Confidence to manage your own workload efficiently using initiative, but also working as part of a team
• Good communications skills both written and verbal are essential
• Good organisation skills and time management
• An organised, pro-active approach
• Accuracy and good attention to detail
• A bright, positive attitude with a willingness to be flexible and help when required
• Previous experience in a similar role essential
The hours of work are 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Please apply by email, attaching a copy of your CV to carolinepotter@morganlaw.co.uk or in writing to Caroline Potter, Practice Manager, Morgans, 33 East Port, Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 7JE.
Closing date for applications is 5pm on the 28th of November 2017.
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* Morgans are happy to accept introductory commissions from insurance companies or procuration fees from lending institutions. We charge a fee of £250 plus we will also receive a procuration fee of approximately 0.35% from the product provider. However if clients wish to operate on a fee only basis we are happy to do so and our fees are normally £450.00.
**Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Morgans is a trading name of The Morgan Law Partnership which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for Financial Services. FCA Number 427236.
To arrange a free initial consultation please contact us on telephone number 01383 620222, or alternatively you can complete the short form below and a member of our financial services team will get back to you as soon as possible.
OFFICE JUNIOR
We are looking for a confident, motivated individual to support our busy legal office and work as part of a team.
Key responsibilities involve:
The ideal candidate will:
Full training will be provided. Hours of work will be Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm.
Please apply attaching your CV by email to carolinepotter@morganlaw.co.uk or in writing to Caroline Potter, Morgans, 33 East Port, Dunfermline, KY12 7JE.
Closing date Monday 23rd October 5pm.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Click here to access the newsletter
* Morgans are happy to accept introductory commissions from insurance companies or procuration fees from lending institutions. We charge a fee of £250 plus we will also receive a procuration fee of approximately 0.35% from the product provider. However if clients wish to operate on a fee only basis we are happy to do so and our fees are normally £450.00.
**Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Morgans is a trading name of The Morgan Law Partnership which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for Financial Services. FCA Number 427236.
To arrange a free initial consultation please contact us on telephone number 01383 620222, or alternatively you can complete the short form below and a member of our financial services team will get back to you as soon as possible.
When a person requires care, the local authority for the area in which they live will undertake a financial assessment of that person’s capital and income to determine whether that person is considered self funding, or if they should receive any assistance with their care by the Local Authority.
The current upper limit is £26,500 and the lower limit is £16,500. This means that if the person who requires care has assets and income in excess of £26,500, then they will be considered fully self funding. Once their capital dips below the upper limit, a further assessment is undertaken and the local authority should then contribute towards the cost of the care and once below the lower limit, the person’s contribution will be based only on their income, with the value of any capital being disregarded.
For those aged 65 and over, who are assessed as self funding, an allowance of £171 per week is given towards personal care (food, mobility, bathing etc) and £78 per week towards nursing care. Whether a person qualifies for both the personal care and nursing care payments will depend on the level of care they require.
Tempting as it may be giving away assets or transferring ownership to family members (for example the family home) does not necessarily mean that the value of the asset will not be taken into account in any financial assessment. This may be seen as an intentional deprivation of capital by the local authority, who can ultimately refuse to fund care or seek to reverse any transfer if there is no other valid reason for it having taken place.
There is no time limit set down in law for how far back a local authority can look for deprivations of capital and with tighter budget constraints, this is something that local authorities are taking a more hardened attitude towards.
However, it is not necessarily the case that taking up a place in a care home will result in a total loss of capital. By way of an example:-
Jane has a house worth £90,000 and other savings totalling £10,000. Like most others, she might be considered as ‘asset rich, but cash poor’. She receives a state retirement pension of £6,000 per year and an occupational pension of £6,500 each year. She goes into a care home which costs £32,000 per year (around the average yearly cost). During her stay, she is entitled to the Personal Care Allowance of £171 per week and Nursing Care Allowance of £78 per week. The total of her annual income (taking into account the allowances) is £25,448 per year. This means she needs to find £6,552 per year to fully fund her care costs. If she lets out her house at £400 per month, this would raise a further £4,800 per year, leaving a shortfall of £1,752 per year. This could be covered by a Deferred Payment Scheme.
This means that the fact she required to go into a care home did not totally use up all her capital. There will still be funds for her family to inherit.
It is an unfortunate fact that people tend to shy away from discussing possible infirmity and the loss of capacity in later life. Often by the time we are consulted a person may have already had a diagnosis of dementia or plans are having to be made for their future care needs. Families might have to consider going to court to seek appointment as Welfare and Financial Guardian to an elderly relative to allow decisions to be made about their welfare and future finances. This can be costly and take longer than relatives might think. Nobody is invincible and forward planning through the granting of a Power of Attorney can make things much more straightforward for relatives if you lose the capacity to deal with your own affairs.
At Morgans we can provide you with a bespoke service tailored to your present and future needs. We have a wealth of experience in wills, inheritance tax planning, Powers of Attorney and Guardianships.
If you would like to discuss any of these matters, or care fees and the Deferred Payment Scheme in further detail, then please contact Lynsey Rintoul on 01383 620222 (lynseyrintoul@morganlaw.co.uk).
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Click here to access the newsletter
* Morgans are happy to accept introductory commissions from insurance companies or procuration fees from lending institutions. We charge a fee of £250 plus we will also receive a procuration fee of approximately 0.35% from the product provider. However if clients wish to operate on a fee only basis we are happy to do so and our fees are normally £450.00.
**Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Morgans is a trading name of The Morgan Law Partnership which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for Financial Services. FCA Number 427236.
To arrange a free initial consultation please contact us on telephone number 01383 620222, or alternatively you can complete the short form below and a member of our financial services team will get back to you as soon as possible…
If you are thinking of taking the plunge and moving in with your partner give some thought to the following.
Even if you have no intention of getting married, since 2006 in Scotland the law has given rights to former cohabitants to make financial claims in certain circumstances when the cohabitation comes to an end. Cohabitants are defined as a man or woman who are living together as if they are husband or wife or in a same sex marriage. To be considered as cohabitants, the courts take into account the length of time you have lived together, the nature of the relationship and the nature and extent of any financial arrangements between you both.
There are significant financial consequences should you separate or if one of you dies. Section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 provides for a balancing of economic advantage/disadvantage experienced by you both. For example, if one of you put more capital into the purchase or renovation of your home thus giving a financial benefit to the other, they may able to make a claim for reimbursement of this. Alternatively, one of you may have stayed at home to care for children to allow the other to pursue a successful career and accrue significant assets or pensions. A court could make an award to address the financial imbalance after the couple separate. This claim has to be made within 12 months of the date of cohabitation ending. Alternatively, should one of you die without having made a will, the other will be able to make a claim on your estate provided it is within 6 months of the date of death.
Unfortunately, despite this having been the law for over 10 years there are still very few reported decisions from the courts. This means that it is not straightforward in advising clients what the outcome might be. This uncertainty can be avoided by giving some thought in the good times to what might happen in the bad times.
If you are thinking about moving in with your partner, we would advise you to consider entering into a cohabitation agreement. This can provide for financial arrangements during the relationship and in the event of your separation. This can be a more cost-effective approach than applying to the courts for financial provisions to be made. Cohabitation agreements provide a degree of control and certainty for your future. Separately, making a will in these circumstances will ensure that your estate is distributed as you would wish.
Morgans provides a wide range of legal services. Our Family Law solicitors have a wealth of experience in advising clients on these issues. Get in contact with us on 01383 620222 should you wish to discuss this further.
Brian Tait – Partner – briantait@morganlaw.co.uk
Russel McPhate – Partner – russelmcphate@morganlaw.co.uk
Amina Suhail – Trainee Solicitor – aminasuhail@morganlaw.co.uk
It is generally known that the proportion of accrued pension rights of spouses as at the date they separate will be regarded as matrimonial property for the purposes of calculating their respective entitlements to share in the matrimonial property. The Regulations relating to the calculation used simply refer to the period of the person’s membership in the pension scheme. The Supreme Court has recently issued a judgement on what the period of a person’s membership should be defined as meaning. This decision overturns decisions of a Sheriff and the Inner House of the Court of Session.
The circumstances of the case were as follows. Mr McDonald worked as a miner for British Coal. He joined the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme on 11 December 1978 and began contributing to it. He married Mrs McDonald on 22 March 1985. Shortly afterwards, he retired early on grounds of ill-health and exercised his right to receive a pension income before his normal retiring age. As a result, between 11 December 1978 and 10 August 1985 Mr McDonald was a member of and contributor to the scheme. Since 10 August 1985 he has been a member in receipt of income benefits under the scheme. The couple separated on 25 September 2010.
The relevant Regulations contain the following formula for calculating the proportion of Mr McDonald’s pension rights that would be regarded as matrimonial property : “A x B/C where – A is the value of these rights or interests in any benefits under the pension arrangement which is calculated, as at the relevant date, in accordance with paragraph (2) of regulation 3 above…; and B is the period of C which falls within the period of the marriage of the parties before the relevant date and, if there is no such period, the amount shall be zero; and C is the period of the membership of that party in the pension arrangement before the relevant date…”
The dispute between the parties related to that formula. The words which fell to be interpreted are the words in the definition of factor C, namely “the period of membership of that party in the pension arrangement”. Mr McDonald argued that the court should apportion the value of his pension rights by reference only to the period in which he was an “active member” of the scheme, that is the period during which he was making contributions to the scheme. On that basis, the value of his interest in the pension benefits which is matrimonial property would be £10,002. Mrs McDonald argued that the cash equivalent transfer value should be apportioned by reference to the period of Mr McDonald’s membership of the scheme, both when in pensionable employment and also when drawing a pension. On that basis the value is £138,534. A Sheriff favoured the interpretation put forward on behalf of Mr McDonald as being the correct and fair way to calculate the proportion of his pension rights that would be matrimonial property. This decision was approved by the Inner House of the Court of Session which dismissed Mrs McDonald’s appeal. The majority of judges hearing the case based their reasoning on the general rule found in section 10(4) of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985, which states that matrimonial property is confined to assets acquired during the marriage but before the relevant date of separation.
Mrs McDonald appealled to the Supreme Court which has upheld her appeal and overturned the earlier decisions. Amongst the reasons given by the Supreme Court were that the courts cannot insert words into the Regulations that are not already there and that to insert the words “active membership” into the interpretation of the Regulations would make no sense in the contect of private pensions where the concept does not exist.
Whilst on the face of it this might seem like an unfair windfall for Mrs McDonald (the period of contributions into the pension scheme from the date of marriage was less than five months before Mr McDonald retired on the grounds of ill health) the story might not end there. The Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985 does not require that the matrimonial assets are shared equally. The Act requires that they are shared fairly. There are other provisions in the legislation which allow for an unequal division of assets where there are special circumstances justifying this.
Although for separating couples in similar situations now the starting point is that the decision of the Supreme Court is binding it has become all the more important to consider how the circumstances of the couple might justify an unequal division of the matrimonial assets. Our litigation partners have a wealth of experience in providing advice and representation to clients who have separated or are contemplating divorce. We will be happy to guide you through the process to achieve the best possible outcome for you. If we can be of assistance to you the please call us on 01383 620222 for an appointment.
Brian Tait – Partner – briantait@morganlaw.co.uk
Russel McPhate – Partner – russelmcphate@morganlaw.co.uk
Legal Secretary (Conveyancing)
This full time position involves providing direct support to our busy Conveyancing Department. Excellent organisational skills are essential for this role. Applicants must have fast and accurate audio typing skills, experience of Case Management systems, good numeracy and literacy skills. The duties will also include diary management, making and answering telephone calls, dealing directly with clients, scanning, copying and filing.
Please email Practice Manager, Caroline Potter, with a copy of your CV in the first instance – carolinepotter@morganlaw.co.uk