Latimer Hinks Solicitors Has "Girl Power"

Nicola Neilson joined Latimer Hinks Solicitors in 2000, qualified in 2003 and was made partner in 2007. Quite a meteoric rise!

To add to this timeline Nicola is now President of the Tees Valley Law Society - one of only three female presidents in the history of Tees Valley Law Society - she is also the youngest!

Nicola joins Jenni Bartram who became the first female President of the Yorkshire Law Society - go girls!!

Update: Nicola has made the Law Gazette

Without a Will There Can be Disappointed Relatives

According to new research from Which? Legal Service:

• 56% of people surveyed do not have a will


• 33% of those over 45 have yet to make a will


• 35% aged over 65 feel that they don't need a will
  

Latimer Hinks is concerned that many people do not have a will, wrongly assuming that everything they own will automatically go to their spouse/partner or children. The distribution of estates where someone dies intestate (without a will) has recently changed the level of the statutory legacy – the amount a spouse or civil partner will receive.

For a widow(er)/civil partner where the deceased has children the statutory legacy has risen from £125,000 to £250,000. So, for most estates with a value of less than £250,000 the whole of the estate will pass to the surviving spouse or civil partner.

BUT if a couple are living together but have not made the union legal (by way of marriage or a civil partnership) and have not made wills then their estate will not pass onto the survivor.

The Which survey found that:

66% of couples did not know that their children would inherit if the coulple was not not married/had not entered into a civil partnership.

Today it is far more common for people to have been married more than once. A will can be vital in ensuring that any assets someone leaves go to the people they want to benefit, particularly if there are children from previous relationships.

77% did not realise that if both parents were to die, failure to appoint guardians for their children could result in the courts having a say in their future - and they could be raised by someone the parents wouldn't have chosen.

Michael Jackson's recent premature death highlighted the issues of what can happen to dependent children. Jackson Child Custody Case Highlights Problems with Parental Rights

The Which study also revealed:

43% were unaware that if a couple were separated but not divorced, that the estranged partner could inherit the bulk of the estate rather than the current partner or children.

For the full press release visit Without a Will there Can be Disappointed Relatives

For more information on who can inherit visit AdviceGuide

Please, take the advice of a professional legal adviser and ensure that if you have a will that it is up to date!

New Rules Leads to New Partner at Latimer Hinks

New rules under the Legal Services Act allow UK law firms to take on non-lawyers as partners.

Latimer Hinks Solicitors took advantage of the new rules to bring on board Andrew Way as partner - a move which recognises the enormous contibution Andrew has made over the past 30 years.

Congratulations Andrew!

FeedBurner - pushing your information

I've been burning feeds - not something i thought i'd be saying in a marketing role + it's free!

Recently Google purchased news-feed management company FeedBurner for $100 million and Google is now offering the service for free - Google Gives Away Feedburner

Why Would I Want to Set Fire to my Feed?
If you long for creative ways to attract an audience, see where your content goes once you publish it and generally add a lot more value to your feed, then "feedburning" is for you

Your "feed" is redirected so that you can get a true picture of how many subscribers you have, where they come from etc. You are provided with a very detailed analysis which can be tailored to what you require. I've used the data on one blog to help promote the other blogs. It's interesting to see where your traffic comes from and where it is going to!

See Feedburning for Bloggers

Blogging - slowly but surely there seems to be a pay off!

We've now been blogging for over a month now and Judith's Divorce Blog is finally gaining recognition.

The last time i spoke with Judith she'd had over 900 hits on her Yahoo 360 blog (which contains the same information as her blogspot blog).

The blogspot blog has been mentioned in various other family lawyers blogs, so many thanks to them - Family Lore & Bloody Relations both excellent blogs in their own right.

I've also managed to have Judith's divorce blog highlighted as a "featured external blog" wikivorce. I'm now in the process of trying for the same on Infolaw. *Update* Judith's Blog is now on infolaw!

Due to the success of this trial blog we have decided to start up another. This time to promote the Private Client side of Latimer Hinks Solicitors. Wills, trusts, probate, inheritance tax planning, estate planning etc etc.

The blog is called Anne's Tax Planning Blog and will advise on all aspects of "planning for the future". Again, i have started the blog in Yahoo 360 - we like the community based blog providers and hope to gain traffic through Yahoo and direct it to the blogspot blog of the same name.

I like the blogspot sites as you can add widgets, set up RSS feeds and monitor through google analytics, which seems to be a problem in Yahoo.

I will keep you updated