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The latest news and opinion brought to you by Smith Partnership. If you would like further information on any of the topics covered in this newsletter, please contact us and a specialist will be pleased to advise. In this issue, we look at:

If you have any feedback on our newsletter, or would like to suggest topics for future articles, do let me know.

Steve Mann, Managing Partner
Employment law for individuals

Our specialist Employment Law solicitor James Johnson has written a bumper article on recent changes and news in his arena.

In this article he discusses:

  • The results from an ONS survey on life satisfaction
  • Compromise agreements
  • Changes to the Default Retirement Age
  • Changes in the level of protection given to employees against unreasonable dismissal
The final score is in: Ms Jones 9, Mr Kernott 1

Working out who gets what share of a former home on a relationship breakdown – where the property owners were not married together – is often not an easy task.

Advice is far simpler when joint property owners are married. But less couples are marrying these days, and figures produced by the Office for National Statistics in November 2011 illustrate this point. In the early 1960’s less than one in a hundred adults cohabited. In 2010 it was one in six.

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Are legal documents valid if in electronic format?

More and more frequently nowadays we are asked to deal with our banking, paying bills, submitting CV’s and generally corresponding with people or organisations by email or on-line. Our letters, statements, forms and bills are all stored electronically and we do not actually need a paper copy.

There are some important exceptions, however, with regards to legal documents.

The information in this update is intended to provide an overview of current or upcoming legislation and is not intended as complete coverage. The application of the law in any specific case should always follow professional advice. If you wish to update the details which we hold on you or you do not wish to receive any further marketing materials from us, please contact us by email - marketing@smithpartnership.co.uk. © Smith Partnership 2011