Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Carr & Co are very proud to announce that we have once again passed Lexcel for the 7th year running. Lexcel is a vigorous assessment completed by the Law Society and only a select few of Solicitors practices have the award of Lexcel 5. The Lexcel practice standard is awarded to solicitors who provide excellence and outstanding service in client care and practice management. Well done to all the staff who have contributed and worked very hard in achieving the….
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Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Carr & Co’s Property Solicitor and Partner Mark Lynn explains the Merits and Pitfalls of Shared Ownership in property purchases. Buying a property for the first time is one of the biggest financial commitments you will ever make. It is therefore imperative that when considering whether to purchase a property through a shared ownership scheme to consider the pitfalls before proceeding. Shared Ownership Schemes are usually run through a Housing Association and involve acquiring an initial share in the property,….
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Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
First Time Buyers who are thinking of purchasing a property valued between £125,000.00 and £250,000.00 should act now if they wish to save on the Governments current Stamp Duty exemption. The Government have announced that the current exemption which means that first time buyers are free from the 1% Stamp Duty Tax on homes costing below £250,000.00 will finish on 24th March 2012. There are concerns that with the current exemption ending the housing market will be further affected, especially….
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Monday, January 9th, 2012
Featured at number 10 in a strangely varied list of Top 10 searches on Google which also includes “What is scampi?” and “What is Zumba?”; Probate stands out as an issue clearly concerning a large number of uses of the Internet. Carr & Co’s Probate specialist Sharon Smith provides the answer to “What is Probate”… “When someone dies their assets (usually bank accounts and home if they own it) must be transferred either to their beneficiaries under a Will. Where there….
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Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
You will not believe the number of times we have heard our client’s say “I have been meaning to obtain a Will for a number of years now”. The importance of making a Will is essential and each Will is personal to you to ensure that your assets pass to your loved ones. Here are a few reasons why you should make a Will in 2012. By making a Will your wishes take effect and your estate will go where….
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Friday, December 16th, 2011
Further to the news last week that Divorce rates are on the increase, a recent report published by the Office of National Statistics show that less than half of the population are now married and that one in six couples now cohabit. For those cohabiting or thinking of cohabiting it is important that they are aware that there is no such term as “common law marriage”. Just by living together for a long period of time does not give couples….
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Monday, November 21st, 2011
Wills could be affected by plunging pension values as people look to sell off other assets to fund their retirement, warns Carr & Co. Carr & Co says that with pension investments having lost value, those nearing retirement could be forced to sell the assets they had planned to leave to family and friends in their will in order to fund their retirement. Senior Partner of Carr & Co and Wills specialist Sharon Smith says: “Many people who wrote a….
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Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Increasing Carehome fees mean elderly people could end up with having nothing to leave in their Wills. This follows a report that more than 20,000 pensioners have had to sell their homes last year to pay for Residential Carehome fees which has increased by 17% in the past five years. Last year, Age Concern/ Help the Aged estimated that the average Carehome fees are £470.00 a week, prompting the Law Society to warn that many Wills could need re-doing as….
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Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Towards the end of September it was announced by the coalition government that they would not be proceeding with proposed reforms of cohabitation law. The Law Commission had in its 2007 report “Cohabitation: The Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown” recommended that financial remedies should be available to cohabitants on separation and provided certain eligibility criteria were met. At the moment couples who are separating after a period of cohabitation and those entering into cohabitation do not have the same rights….
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Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Carr & Co Solicitors have recently joined the Cancer Research Panel of Solicitors offering free Will’s to client’s aged over 55 years of age. Cancer Research have worked tirelessly towards helping to double the survival rate from Cancer in the UK over the past 40 years. Over one third of their work is funded by gifts left in Wills and as these are generally exempt from Inheritance Tax the full value of any gift goes directly to help Cancer Research….
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