Independent advice meaning

This Checklist This Checklist outlines the actions required when shaping and composing a marital or civil partnership agreement. It also covers formalities, including execution as a deed, duties affecting third parties, and the court’s jurisdiction. It further addresses financial disclosure, property that is non-matrimonial or outside the civil partnership, fairness, undue influence, and the need for independent legal advice for marital agreements, and can serve as an aide-memoire when drafting a marital or civil partnership agreement. It is suitable for use with pre-nuptial, post-nuptial, and separation agreements...

Checklist This checklist sets out principal matters to address when launching an internal inquiry into suspected criminal conduct. For fuller guidance, see Practice Note: How to plan and conduct an internal investigation. What is the purpose of the investigation? Prioritise fact-finding over determining liability. What is the scope of the investigation? Create clear terms of reference. Decide who should undertake the investigation and assign roles within the investigation. If Board members will be involved, verify whether a board resolution is required to authorise this. Take legal advice on likely Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) issues. Ensure the Board, or a duly constituted sub-committee, oversees the investigation and is identified as ‘the client’ in any engagement letter and/or correspondence with internal and/or external lawyers; keep written records of these decisions. If deploying internal audit, consider whether it was involved in the predicate events...

Undue influence Where a person gives security to support a third-party borrower, a presumption of undue influence may arise in particular situations and, in certain circumstances, be assumed—for details on when this presumption is engaged, see Practice Note: Taking a guarantee or third party security from an individual—undue influence. After the House of Lords ruling in Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge (No 2), the Law Society issued guidance for solicitors advising security providers to protect themselves from negligence claims. The judgment itself also explained the means by which a lender may protect itself from third-party security being set aside in circumstances where there is potentially undue influence. Checklist for a lender taking third-party security from an individual To rebut the presumption of undue influence (see above), a lender must be able to demonstrate that the security provider understood the nature of the transaction and chose to grant the security on an informed basis. In order to do this, whenever the relationship between the debtor and...

Original news Mr Y (CAS-57893-P0C6)—20 August 2025 / Ms R (CAS-58612-P1X1)—18 July 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman dismissed a complaint concerning a loan note investment. The scheme’s independent trustee bore no responsibility for losses arising from this high-risk, speculative asset. The complainants had completed forms confirming the trustee was not giving investment advice and could not be held accountable for any investment loss. The arrangement ran on an execution-only basis. The trustee also undertook appropriate due diligence before proceeding. In light of these factors, no liability ultimately attached to the trustee for the loan note loss. The determination highlights the perils of placing funds into non-standard investments. Accordingly, the complaint failed. What were the facts? Ms R and Mr Y were members of the Westerby Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme was a self-directed, self-invested personal pension (SIPP) scheme. Westerby Trustee Services Limited (Westerby) was the Scheme’s independent trustee and administrator...

In this issue: Data protection and cybersecurity Free movement, immigration, and employment Financial services Energy Environment Insurance and reinsurance IP Regulatory TMT Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Data protection and cybersecurity EU prolongs the temporary Regulation to tackle online child sexual abuse effectively. Regulation (EU) 2024/1307 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2024, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services to process personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse, has been published in the Official Journal of the EU. The Regulation took effect on 14 May 2024. See: LNB News 15/05/2024 14. Free movement, immigration, and employment Council of the EU adopts ten legislative acts to comprehensively overhaul the EU asylum and migration system. The...

The company noted in its yearly report that a ‘skilled person’, who was not identified by name, was conducting an independent assessment to update the FCA on whether firms within the Quilter Financial Planning network adhered to regulatory requirements in their provision of advice services. The financial services group stated it had identified ‘limited cases’ where clients had not received ongoing advice, after a review of its historic data, policies, and internal company procedures...

This Practice Note explains the meanings of ‘flexible benefit’, ‘safeguarded benefit’ and ‘safeguarded‑flexible benefit’ in relation to the pension freedoms that took effect on 6 April 2015 (for further detail, see Practice Note: Pension freedoms—an introduction [Archived]). Why does the distinction matter? Drawing a line between flexible benefits and safeguarded benefits is crucial, as the pension freedoms introduced on 6 April 2015 are available only for the former and not the latter. Put simply, someone holding safeguarded benefits alone cannot use the pension freedoms unless they first convert those safeguarded benefits into flexible benefits, for example by transferring to a flexible benefit arrangement or by converting them within a scheme into flexible benefits. The government initially floated a consultation on extending certain pension freedoms to safeguarded benefits, but nothing further has emerged since the July 2014 announcement. In any event, schemes providing safeguarded benefits would have been expected to dismiss such proposals because of the administrative and actuarial difficulties the scheme would face whenever a member made...

This Practice Note sets out advice for law firms on responding to client account fraud and outlines the applicable legal and regulatory duties. Client funds are inviolable and their careful stewardship is essential and paramount. What is client account fraud? A firm suffers client account fraud where money is unlawfully taken from its client account. Immediate steps to take Act swiftly to limit harm in the immediate aftermath of client account fraud. Do everything possible to prevent further loss and disruption promptly. Form a fraud response team and appoint someone to lead the incident without delay; suitable choices include: the compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA) the finance director the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) the nominated officer the senior partner another appropriately senior person within the firm The SRA warning notice, Money missing from client account, states that if you discover that funds are missing, you must take steps to ensure...

Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the formal and practical considerations relevant to taking instructions, preparing, and advising on a marital or civil partnership agreement, along with the overarching principles. It encompasses pre-nuptial (pre-marital), post-nuptial, separation and maintenance agreements. It also addresses vitiating factors, reviews, variation, and inheritance issues. Following the Supreme Court ruling in Radmacher (formerly Granatino) v Granatino, such an agreement may prove 'decisive' so long as it is 'fair'. The method of drafting and the observance of formal requirements surrounding a marital or civil partnership agreement can be pivotal when assessing if, and to what degree, the agreement will be enforced. No party should sign an agreement without the intention to be bound by its terms. Each party ought to be given the chance to obtain independent legal advice on the agreement’s provisions, see Practice Note: Marital and civil partnership agreements—independent legal advice. Financial disclosure should likewise be exchanged, see Practice Note: Marital and civil partnership agreements—disclosure. See also Practice Notes: Implications of pre-nuptial agreements within...

[ insert name of Franchisor ] [ insert Franchisor’s address ] Dear [ insert Franchisor name ], Proposed franchise agreement to be entered into between [ insert name of franchisor ] and [ insert name of franchisee ] (the ‘Agreement’) The Franchisee acknowledges that despite clause [ Acknowledgement clause where Franchisor advises Franchisee to seek advice ] of...

Archived: The ability to offer tax-favoured employee shareholder shares or ESS (commonly used in private equity company arrangements) has now been removed In the Autumn Statement 2016, the government confirmed that certain ESS-related tax reliefs would be withdrawn. The changes remove: The income tax and NICs relief applying to the first £2,000 of employee shareholder shares an individual receives The capital gains tax exemption in respect of all, or a portion, of ESS shares The provision ensuring that, when a company purchases employee shareholder shares from an employee shareholder, the consideration is not treated as a distribution in the shareholder’s hands The withdrawal of these reliefs applies to any employer shareholder agreements entered into on or after 1 December 2016. However, an individual who had obtained independent advice about entering an employer shareholder agreement before 23 November 2016 could still complete the agreement before 1 December 2016 and retain the beneficial income and CGT tax advantages...

THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are uncertain about the Offer or what steps to take, you should obtain immediately your own personal, independent financial advice from your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or another independent financial adviser duly authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) if you are resident in the United Kingdom, or, if you do not, from a suitably and appropriately duly authorised independent financial adviser. If you have sold, sell or otherwise transferred all of your Shares (other than pursuant to the Offer), please promptly forward this document together with any accompanying materials (but not any personalised Form of Acceptance) to the purchaser or transferee, or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was arranged, for onward delivery to the purchaser or transferee. Nevertheless, do not distribute, forward or transmit these documents in or into any jurisdiction where doing so would breach, contravene or otherwise infringe the relevant...

Key legal issues for guarantees Guarantees constitute contracts and must accordingly meet the four essential elements of a contract, namely: offer acceptance consideration the intention to create legal relations As a rule in law, consideration given in the past is ordinarily insufficient. A firm ought not to take a guarantee once it has already agreed to supply services to a client in question. The guarantee must also comply fully with s.4 of the Statute of Frauds 1677. It must thus be recorded in writing and properly signed by the guarantor as required. The Firm should also be alert to potential claims of misrepresentation, duress, and undue influence. It is sound practice to see that the guarantor receives independent legal advice on the implications of giving the guarantee. Is the guarantee a regulated credit agreement? Where undertaken by way of business in the United Kingdom, entering into a regulated credit agreement may potentially amount to a regulated activity under...

This Q&A proceeded on the basis that the life tenant neither arranged for an independent person to read the document to him nor obtained separate legal advice about it...