News
Ianthe joins Letchers Solicitors
03.06.10
Letchers Solicitors of Ringwood are delighted to announce the arrival of well respected divorce lawyer, Ianthe Slinger to their Partnership and to the firm as Head of Family.
Having spent the last 9 years at Christchurch based firm Frettens and the last four years as a partner and Head of their Family Team, Ianthe joined the firm at the beginning of May. Michael Stocken, Senior Partner says,
I am thrilled to make this announcement as Ianthe is not only a very well respected and talented family solicitor, she brings a considerable wealth of experience in terms of her management skills and not to mention her boundless energy and infectious personality. Since taking over the practice in 2005, our family and divorce practice has gone from strength to strength, Ianthe's appointment to Head the Family Team can only build on the excellence we strive to achieve for all clients.
Ianthe has over the latter years fine tuned her practice and built herself a formidable reputation, acting in particular for high net worth individuals, especially for those in business or their spouses. Ianthe is also Collaboratively trained, therefore able to offer in the first instance a less confrontational and more conciliatory approach, if the parties are willing. If that approach or Mediation are not an option, Ianthe is skilled in seeing clients through the Court process.
It is a pleasure to have her onboard and not on the other side of the fence! As a Resolution Accredited Mediator and also Collaboratively trained myself, as a family law practice we can offer clients a full range of ways in assisting them in resolving their family and matrimonial difficulties in house and without having to refer them on to other firms to mediate or collaborate. Whilst Ianthe's practice will very much continue in assisting those in the local business community and in dealing with complex issue cases, we do have a Public Funding franchise for those that are eligible.
Ianthe says,
I am very excited indeed with my new appointment, I have known both Michael and Ed Holmes for many years both personally and professionally and to now be in business with two individuals sharing a common ethos is very satisfying. I have been busy integrating myself in the local community, my new role as President of the Chamber of Commerce has certainly been a great help, and I have been made to feel most welcome across the board. I would like to thank those in the Bournemouth and Poole business community for their continued support and recommendations and particularly the members of the Harbour Executive Club again for their support and friendship, it's very much appreciated."Letchers is perfectly placed within the conurbation with easy access across the New Forest and with great links via the A31 from Bournemouth and Poole. The firm offers a full range of services for both the individual and business clients.
You can contact Ianthe at ianthe.slinger@letchers.co.uk
Why litigate when you can mediate?
02.06.10In the event of your relationship breaking down whether you are married, unmarried or are in a same sex relationship, there are always legal issues which need to be resolved between you which can prove to be extremely expensive and time consuming. Recourse to solicitors and the Courts can prove to be very expensive and to some extent, can be beyond even those of fairly modest means. There is an alternative way of trying to assist those who have a relationship that has broken down and that is by way of family mediation.
The importance of family mediation has now been acknowledged by the Ministry of Justice in their latest paper in which they have sought the views of all those involved in providing advice and assistance to those involved in relationship breakdown and all the related issues. It is anticipated that over the next 6-12 months, the Ministry of Justice will bring forward proposals to effectively persuade those whose relationships have broken down to use mediation as opposed to reverting to the Court process. The advantage of mediation is that the parties control the process and mediation is a flexible process which enables the parties to think out of the box with the assistance of the mediator who is an entirely independent third party. Mediation is not only substantially cheaper than the Court process but it enables the parties to control the process rather than allowing the process to control them. Family mediators are specially trained to deal with helping parties resolve financial difficulties that they may have between them, assisting in the division of assets, helping to resolve issues over care of children both for now and in the future but should not be confused with reconciliation counselling.
Mediation is not a threat to the professionals who provide legal advice to individuals whose relationships have broken down. There is a need for legal advice to support the mediation process but the importance of mediation is that the legal support does not take over the process but is ancillary to it. The costs of a fully fought out financial dispute whether the parties are married or un-married can easily be as much as £15,000-£20,000 where alternatively, trying to resolve matters through family mediation can be as little as £1,000 per party and in certain instances, individuals may well be eligible for Publicly Funded (Legally Aided) mediation which would mean that they receive mediation entirely free.
Letchers Solicitors Family Mediation Service has considerable experience in assisting clients through the maze of a resolution of their problems. Michael Stocken has been a Family Mediator for 12 years and for more information please see Letchers Mediation website at www.letsmediate.co.uk
So you thought you weren't responsible
01.06.10We are in times of recession when limited companies are more prone to end up in liquidation. To the vast majority of Company Directors, this has been due to no fault of their own but as a result of the economic climate and the inability to obtain funding to support the business or because a major creditor has themselves ceased trading.
However, problems arise when a Liquidator begins to examine the role of the Directors. In a small company when the Directors are not only the main producers of income for the business but also the business administrators, very often it is the company's paperwork and in particular the company's accounting records which are not kept in a proper format. In the event of it becoming clear to the Liquidator that the company's accounting records have not been kept in a proper form, then there is a serious risk that a report will be made by the Liquidator either to the Insolvency Service or alternatively, to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills. This could lead to the Company Director receiving before the limitation period expires of two years from the date of the liquidation, an invitation from either the Insolvency Service or BIS to enter into an undertaking under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986. Company Directors should not enter into such forms of undertaking without being fully aware of the potential risks that there are in agreeing to such undertakings. Many undertakings will suggest breaches of the accounting requirements under the Companies Act of 1985 s.221 and s.222 or for that matter, a failure by the Company Directors to co-operate with the Liquidator under the Insolvency Act 1986. The period that will be offered to the former Company Director depends upon the seriousness of the alleged breaches of legislation. However, it is not unusual for a Company Director to face an undertaking which could be anywhere between 4 and 8 years. This means that a Company Director would not be able to be a Company Director or be involved in the management of a company for the period of the disqualification. In the event of the former Company Director wishing to challenge the request to give an undertaking, these are Civil Proceedings which can be contested in a County Court. However, the carrot that is offered by the Insolvency Service/BIS is that if the undertaking is accepted, then no costs will be sought in relation to the potential proceedings under the CDDA.
However, all former Company Directors who are faced with a request to give an undertaking under the CDDA should act with considerable caution and should not agree to give such an undertaking without appreciating what the effect of giving such an undertaking may be. In the event of an undertaking being given, the schedule to the undertaking will almost certainly specify admissions by the former Company Director as to breaches of the Companies Act and/or the Insolvency Act. The risk in accepting the form of undertaking is that once the undertaking has been accepted then there is usually a prima facie case to answer with regard to criminal proceedings arising out of the admissions that have been made. The next that the Company Director may well hear is a request from the Insolvency Service/BIS for them to be interviewed under caution with regard to potential offences that have been admitted in the form of undertaking. Invariably, an initial interview will lead to a prosecution usually on a summary basis although in the most serious of breaches, matters can be tried on indictment at the Crown Court. There is the possibility both in the Magistrates Court on summary conviction and in the Crown Court on conviction to terms of imprisonment being imposed. Even in the most modest of breaches, substantial fines can incur and/or suspended sentences.
The former Company Director may have thought that that was bad enough but unfortunately, if the former Company Director is convicted of offences then he faces the possibilities of confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act to the extent of the deficiency in the company liquidation. Effectively the former Company Director can find himself losing the limited liability protection that he thought he had and could find himself facing personal insolvency as a direct result of the liquidation of his company. Any former Company Directors who face any request to give an undertaking under the CDDA should immediately take legal advice and should treat the matter extremely seriously. Letchers Solicitors have experience in dealing with quite a number of such cases and have solicitors who are able to deal with not only the request to give an undertaking under CDDA but the subsequent criminal prosecution and confiscation proceedings. In the first instance, please contact michael.stocken@letchers.co.uk
