Father jailed for breaching court orders in child abduction case
October 7th 2025A father has been sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court after repeatedly failing to comply with orders to return his 11-year-old daughter from Iran to England. Joanne Grey Senior Associate Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. Mrs Justice Lieven, sitting in the High Court’s Family Division, ruled that immediate custody was the only way to secure compliance after what she described as “deliberate and…
Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors announces promotions in Private Client department
September 23rd 2025Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors has announced a new round of promotions within its specialist Wills, Probate and Inheritance team. Reflecting the firm’s ongoing commitment to staff development, Megan Wilkinson has been promoted to Senior Associate Solicitor, while Claire Ackerlay is promoted to Associate Private Client Executive. Cartmell Shepherd’s Private Client department is regarded as one of the largest and strongest in the region offering services including Will drafting, powers of attorney,…
Judge orders equal split in £9m divorce, with £897k lump sum to wife
September 23rd 2025The Family Court has ordered an equal division of the couple’s matrimonial assets, leaving each with £3.44m, and requiring the husband to pay the wife a lump sum of £897,092. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our Family Law team reports on this case. The parties, anonymised as OS (wife) and DT (husband), married in 2014, have three children and separated in September 2023 after careers in London’s finance sector. Under…
Increase in registration fees for Lasting Power of Attorneys
September 18th 2025In August, the Ministry of Justice announced that the fee for registering a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) will increase later this year. Kathryn Ingram, Associate Solicitor and member of The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (ALL)* provides an update. From 17th November 2025, the fee will rise from £82 to £92 per application. Anyone submitting an LPA registration with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) after this date will be required…
Cumbrian legal firm shortlisted for national law award
August 28th 2025A Cumbrian legal firm has achieved national recognition after being named as a finalist in the British Wills and Probate Awards 2025. Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors is shortlisted for the best Contentious Wills & Probate team (Boutique) at the awards which celebrate legal excellence across the country. Rebecca Armstrong, who is Head of Will and Inheritance Disputes at Cartmell Shepherd, said: “We’re delighted to be recognised for our specialist expertise in…
Husband ‘tried to isolate wife from legal advice’ in £230m divorce
August 12th 2025A High Court judge has found that a wealthy husband deliberately tried to prevent his wife from accessing legal support during their divorce negotiations, contributing to what the court described as an unfair and coercive process. Liz Wilson, Senior Associate Solicitor in our Family team, reports on this recent case. In one of the largest divorce awards ever made by the English courts, Mr Justice Cobb ordered the husband to…
Cartmell Shepherd restructures Dispute Resolution team to highlight specialisms
July 29th 2025Leading law firm Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors has announced three senior promotions this week, as part of a move to highlight specialisms within its Dispute Resolution team. Director and Head of Dispute Resolution Mark Aspin said: “Dispute Resolution encompasses a broad spectrum of legal work. While our team deals with the majority of ‘Civil Disputes’, we also employ recognised specialists in the areas of Will & Inheritance Disputes, Property Disputes, and Court of Protection,…
Judge favours divorcing couple’s written agreement in ongoing dispute
July 23rd 2025A Family Court judge has settled a dispute between a divorcing couple who had reached a voluntary financial settlement but then continued to argue over specific details. He said the court should generally favour the contents of the written agreement reached between the parties. Joanne Grey Senior Associate Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. Sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, His Honour Judge Hess was asked to…
More than half of first-time home buyers get help from Mum and Dad
July 7th 2025More than half of all first-time home buyers in the UK now get help from the Bank of Mum and Dad, according to research by the estate agents, Savills. Mandy Shum Conveyancer in our property team provides an update. Approximately 173,500 first-time buyers received assistance last year, receiving on average £55,572. This equates to just over half (52%) of all first-time buyers, which, although lower than the proportion that received assistance…
Robert Hudson steps into senior role at Cartmell Shepherd
July 4th 2025Cartmell Shepherd is proud to announce the promotion of Robert Hudson to the role of Senior Associate Solicitor within the Wills, Probate and Inheritance team. The promotion comes less than twelve months after Robert joined the firm in September 2024 which is one of the leading private client teams in the region. Robert qualified as a solicitor in 2009 after studying law at Cambridge University. He then went on to…
