Child Contact Orders - What happens if contact doesn't take place?

When a court order is in place stating the times a child has contact with a parent each week, and the parent with whom the child lives wilfully refuses to obey the order, then the other parent is entitled to ask the court to make a finding of contempt. Disagreement with a sheriff's decision does not entitle a parent to withhold contact.

The situation is less clear cut when the reason given is that

We are frequently asked to raise court actions against debtors whose whereabouts are unknown; would you know how to find a debtor then raise a court action?

In any court action, a summons needs to be served on a debtor. The whereabouts of a debtor may be unknown because:

• The debtor may have moved to another address without the creditor's knowledge since the original debt accrued
• The debtor has not provided an address
• Or, as is sometime the case, provided an inaccurate address

Many creditors

Nearly 50 years ago, Harold Wilson's Labour government introduced the first law to make unlawful tenant evictions a criminal offence. This law was designed to deal with the 'incentives' which encouraged landlords to remove tenants. So how do you evict a tenant lawfully?

At that time:

• Properties were easier to sell and would sell at a greater price if they were vacant rather than with a sitting tenant.
• Removing tenants who had the benefit of rental protection allowed landlords to maximise their income. One London

Providing for a disabled loved one following your death is not always straightforward - you want them to have enough money to be comfortable but don't want to affect their entitlement to state benefits, many of which are means tested. One of the most effective ways of providing for a disabled beneficiary is using a disabled person's trust within your Will. As well as providing protection for the beneficiary, if set up correctly, the trust can also avoid certain tax charges normally associated with trusts.

Due to the current economic climate many employers will reduce staffing levels and/or restructure their organisation to make savings. Employers need to consider in advance redundancy preparation & consultation requirements for any redundancies.

Failure to follow the correct procedures when making redundancies could prove to be costly, particularly if it results in legal proceedings being raised against the employer.

Unfair dismissal arising for redundancy may be caused by the following:
-  Unfair selection of pools
-  Unfair application of selection criteria
-  Failure to fully

For first-time buyers or those who have been out of the property market for a while, the steps involved in purchasing a property can be daunting. So how do I buy a home in Scotland? Each transaction will differ depending on the circumstances, but the initial steps are:-

1. Set your budget - before looking at properties, you should visit a mortgage adviser to work out your budget. Ideally, you should have an 'agreement in principle' in place with your lender before offering to buy a

We are often asked - when can I get a divorce in Scotland and how long does it take? You can get divorced in Scotland if your marriage has broken down irretrievably.

What options are open to me?

1. If your husband or wife has committed adultery you can raise a divorce action immediately. However, if you proceed on this basis the divorce writ will have to:
   - name the person with whom your spouse formed a relationship
   - be served on that person
2. If the

Tribunal Repossession Application Timescales

The answer to "how long does an eviction action actually take in Scotland?" is much along the same lines as "how long is a piece of string?"

Obtaining an Order for Possession in Scotland is not a particularly quick process. If your application is straightforward and is not defended by your tenant, the following can be used as a general guide:-

Which route of repossession are you taking?

If the tenancy is a short assured tenancy:

• Compulsory Repossession: this relies on

Under the procurement regulations, an organisation engaged in a procurement exercise should allow a 'standstill period' of 10 days to elapse between notifying the tenderers of the successful party and awarding the contract. If an unsuccessful tenderer raises a legal challenge to the procurement process during the standstill period, the organisation cannot proceed to award the contract without first obtaining an order from the court.

In a recent case from Northern Ireland (Rutledge Recruitment and Training Limited v Department for Employment and Learning)

Although the deadlines for the Feed in Tariff in March 2012 and the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) in December 2012 seem a long way away, are RSLs running out of time? Housing Associations would benefit from thinking about it now due to the lengthy lead in time. This is due to the number of parties currently involved:

• All systems installed need to be commissioned by approved suppliers
• The works (and the carbon saving properties) must be completed before these dates - not merely committed

A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) is a new legal body (with effect from April 2011) for charities registered in Scotland.

What is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation?

• It is not subject to the same reporting and regulatory requirements as a company.
• It can enter into transactions on its own behalf, rather than by its charity trustees on its behalf.
• The charity trustees are in general protected from incurring personal liability.? (However this protection is not absolute and charity trustees individually may be held responsible

How do you go about choosing trustees and executors in your Will?

The person or people appointed by you to administer your estate when you die are required to fulfil their role of ingathering your estate by:

- paying off debts and expenses (from your funds, not theirs!)
- distributing the estate in accordance with your Will or, if no Will, in terms of the laws of intestate succession.

Without a Will the people appointed by law may be people you do not like, do

How can landlords use the small claims court in Scotland to recover debt from a tenant? We work closely with Landlord Accreditation Scotland and one of their regular training sessions involves how to pursue a tenant for money through the courts using the small claims procedure.

It's supposed to be an easy way for people to recover money without a solicitor, but caution should be taken as there are some hidden dangers that landlords should be aware of:

The Court Rules
Small claims were designed

Are Home Reports here to stay or should Scotland scrap Home Reports?

There are grumblings amongst MSPs. The Scottish Tories want them scrapped. David McLetchie MSP, Scottish Conservative Chief Whip, said: "In the best of times, Home Reports were an expensive luxury. However, nowadays figures showing that the housing market is struggling to return to where it was a couple of years ago they are madness".

Why have Home Reports?

The single survey for the Home Report was intended to be:

• an assessment by the

We asked our blog readers whether a conviction for supplying Class A drugs within a social rented house (antisocial behaviour) should be made a mandatory ground for evicting a tenant. 97% of those who voted were in favour. Is evicting tenants for antisocial behaviour a good thing?

In 2011, Grant Shapps, Housing Minister in the UK Government launched a consultation document; it asks whether a new mandatory power of eviction should be available not just for drugs offences but for all antisocial behaviour?

We

Our lettings service LetLaw received a query from a landlord who asked whether it was necessary for him to have a written tenancy agreement with his tenant.

The short answer is yes! Section 38 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 makes it a legal requirement for a private landlord to provide a tenant with a written tenancy agreement. If the landlord fails to do so, the tenant can apply to court for this documentation to be provided.

A tenancy agreement shouldn't be viewed as a

After many years of campaigning by trade unions, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 are due to come into force on 1 October 2011 (and are not retrospective).

In general terms, agency workers will qualify for treatment equal to directly employed workers - that is equality in terms of basic employment conditions; after 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer regardless of whether they have been supplied by more than one agency for part of that period of time. Basic working and employment

Will law reform change the impact of dying without a Will in Scotland? Society and family structures have changed considerably since the current law on succession came into force in 1964 and there is widespread support for the law to be updated to reflect this.

Current Rules
Where a person dies without a Will (intestate) his spouse/civil partner has prior rights to his estate:

• Deceased's share in the dwellinghouse occupied by him and the spouse/civil partner up to £473,000;
• House contents up to £29,000;
• Cash

The law in Scotland allows anyone to change his or her forename or surname legally at any time providing this is not to defraud. We are often asked how to legally change your name in Scotland.

Marriage, Divorce and Civil Partnership
Following marriage or a civil partnership you can use your birth name or your spouse's or partner's. A marriage or civil partnership certificate is sufficient proof to instigate this change.

If you divorce or dissolve a civil partnership an extract decree of divorce or

When going through a procurement process how do you ensure you are getting your framework agreements right?

What are framework agreements?

A framework agreement is a "contract" under the procurement regulations, but it is not a contract in the traditional sense. It is an agreement whereby a number of contractors are appointed to the framework, and the client may award specific contracts to any one of those contractors during the lifetime of the framework. However, there is no obligation on the client to do so.