Information About the UK Child Custody Law

Posted by admin on May 16, 2013 No comments

Any country that allows for divorce has a law that governs child custody. In the United Kingdom, one or both parents of the child could take custody even after divorce or separation. Overseen by the court, the divorcees must make a living arrangement of how their child would grow. Both parties have the right to participate in the discussion about the living arrangement.

However, in a parent against parent arrangement, wherein both parents actually disagree heavily, only one parent might take custody of the child. However, access and maintenance payments from the non-resident parent can be considered in this case.

In most joint custodies, allowing the two parents equal share in the physical and emotional care of their child, considering all the legal rights, responsibilities and obligations they have to their children, it greatly helps the growth of the child. Most joint custodies show children who accept their situations more easily than a single parent custody.

In case of disputes in custody, a third parent usually takes care of the child. The third party is a legal guardian approved by both parents. This is usually the grandparent of the child regardless what parental side.

The courts still review the plan proposed by the two parents and will then continue to view the role of the grandparents in the situation. The court can also decide if the plan needs revision or is good to go, but they generally accept custody arrangements made by the parents.

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CPS’ New Guidelines Involving UK Social Media Law

Posted by admin on March 26, 2013 No comments

The Crown Prosecution Service is trying its best to differentiate the right to free speech and overall verbal harassment in the form of social media and communications. Social media became the youth and individual’s avenue for harassing people, sharing offensive and obscene content in the Internet, and bullying that had led to many deaths from different age groups.

Experts say CPS’ move is a great crowd pleaser, but it is yet to prove itself. The CPS cannot only consider the public interest in individual cases, but it also has to uphold the citizen’s right to say what they want to say without fear of prosecution.

In any case, the CPS describe criminal cases involving social media is when a direct “threat” was issued by an issuer against his victim. The intercepted message carrying the threat can help protect the victim early from harassment and stop the sender of the message early in his tracks.

Experts say that social media is a new evolution in communication that had enabled thousands to millions of individuals to send messages in exchanges very quickly. As most of the media coming in and out of computer systems are unfiltered, the law cannot stretch as fast as social media can.

They also said that the main problem of social media was that users know they will be exposed to the public with social media and it is their responsibility to avoid any dangers to be done to their profile at all costs. However, if a malicious intent or action was intercepted, the issuer will be punished by law.

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Whiplash Injuries: What To Do If You Think You Have It

Posted by admin on March 26, 2013 No comments

Whiplash is a fatal injury that victims receive commonly in car collisions. It damages the tissues in the connecting tissue between the neck and head. The neck ligaments can also get torn off, causing nausea and disorientation until the victim gets fully recovered. In fatal situations, the injury could injure the spinal column and cord, which might have victims temporary, partial or full paralysis. If you think you have whiplash, here are what you need to do.

1. Get Yourself to a Medical Professional
Whiplash is an injury without physical manifestation; most victims of whiplash injuries report their injuries and medical professionals are the only one who could evaluate the intensity of pain and suffering the victims feel. Medical professionals could also estimate the severity of the injuries and provide a prognosis for the future troubles and possible expenses of the victim.

2. X-Ray Scans
If you don’t think you should go to the medical professionals yet, you could have yourself x-rayed, CT or MRI-scanned instead. Do this only if you know your car collision was severe, yet you do not suffer any pain or trouble within your neck area except for the parts with physical injuries. Scans can indicate anomalies in your body and this could be a good indication for medical treatment.

3. Rest
If you are still uncertain about having whiplash symptoms a day after your accident, allow yourself to sleep it off for a day or two at home. You could recover from any type of symptoms easily if you have rest. However, if the symptoms of whiplash, nausea, disorientation, ringing in the ears and other nerve-related problems last, you should definitely see your medical professional at once.

Whiplash injury compensation can reach four-digits in pounds in the United Kingdom. If you have any whiplash injury troubles, it is advised that you talk to a whiplash injury claim professional right away.

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Indian Lawyer Association Calls Against Defending Damini Suspects

Posted by admin on January 4, 2013 No comments

The 23 year old gang rape victim named Damini died on Saturday and beforehand, her case grew the widespread anger of Indians against the weak enforcement of anti-rape law and women’s rights. Protests extended from citizens to the lawmen themselves. The Saket Bar Association, made up of 7,000 members, refused to defend the six suspects, including a minor and a bus driver, and appealed to all its members to refrain from doing so.

Experts see that everyone in India, even legal experts, are affected emotionally by the tragedy of Damini and it is fit that their refusal meant their emotional attachment can affect their better judgment. A lawyer cannot defend an accused if they are not objective enough to defend them.

Lawmakers are looking for ways to improve India’s rape law enforcement, including having rape as a capital crime. This means that for any case of rape, a death sentence would be given to the criminals. Today, it is possible to raise the option to lifelong prison sentences.

Rape is a common crime in India, having over 375 cases in 2011 and 600 reported cases in the last year. Sexual assaults are not reported by women as the police and authorities themselves can commit the crimes against the women. Processing of these rape cases are also low priority or even discarded by most law enforcement, according to Indian womens rights groups.

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Clarity Of New Stalking Law Will See More People Report Their Stalkers

Posted by admin on December 28, 2012 No comments

In England and Wales, stalking is a criminal offence to help protect and prioritise the safety of the people. The law against stalking and harassment is designed to protect and give legal rights to people who are systematically, psychologically and physically threatened by other people, either online or offline. Crime Prevention Minister Jeremy Brown states that a new law existing both in the Internet and in the real world against stalkers will be implemented by the last week of December progressing to 2013.

Brown states that the new law is different from other harassment laws because it specifies what a stalker is. The new law lists that anyone threatening, harassing, intruding into the privacy of another person and other details would have more people report their personal stalkers, from the light disruptive to the maniacal stalkers existing in the country.

However, many experts ask about how effective will the new law be as the existing harassment laws may have their own effect, but not entirely scrubbing out criminal stalking in social media and in society.

In England, Wales and some parts of the United Kingdom, stalking is an under-reported crime, which led the Ministry of Justice to form new laws to help people who report criminal activity caused by stalking to stop it the first time around.

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Social Media Prosecutions To Be Given High Threshold

Posted by admin on December 20, 2012 No comments

In line with the Leveson propositions, which has become widely criticised by the public and has become the subject of controversial press control, the Crown Prosecution Service guidelines proposed on Wednesday will give more allowances for offensive and shocking posts on social media such as Twitter and comments on social media websites to uphold the eighth article of the Malicious Communications Act of 1988 and the 127th section of the Communication Act of 2003.

Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights states the right of humans to freedom of speech. The CPS needs prosecutors to find balance between criminal offences by form of posting a comment or a form of online communication that invokes violence that can potentially harm a person or damage properties and harassment by blackmail.

However, any post that pertains to satire, unpopular opinion, offensive and shocking will not be restricted. Prosecutors will also need to gauge the privacy level of the post, meaning that the range of viewers the poster can spread the message will also be considered in any case of violence resulting from malicious posts.

CPS focuses on sticking to facts and evidences under Article 10, which says that no prosecution can be brought unless it can prove through facts and merits to be necessary and appropriate for any situation.

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Leveson Warns Bloggers and Tweeters Online

Posted by admin on December 17, 2012 No comments

The United Kingdom online communities were not too concerned about the possible new laws against unethical journalism, but Lord Justice Leveson, head of the Leveson Inquiry that involved Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and its apparent unethical methods of gaining information to “one-up” their competitors.

Online, journalists might try to cut corners and use unethical methods of gaining information online to have a good “scoop” of the situation.

Lord Justice Leveson states that mainstream journalists and their online equivalents, such as tweeters and bloggers who might be equivalent to “pub gossipers” will all need to be governed by the same legal implications to avoid any drop in publishing quality and discipline. Leveson confirms that the new publishing and news laws will also apply to anyone who publishes information online.

The scope of the law extending online is to avoid having publishers and newspapers move entirely online to avoid legal sanction for unethical practices and infringement of privacy. If Internet publishing is spared from law, it can cause a gap in the legal rights of those afflicted by personal violation.

Leveson encourages creativity and international co-operation in ensuring that media publishing and the online journalism practices of both amateur and professional media personalities do not deteriorate.

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NHS Disabled Parking Charges Unlawful

Posted by admin on December 7, 2012 No comments

A row has broken out over some NHS hospital trusts in the UK that levy a parking charge on disabled drivers. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, leading disability rights lawyer Chris Fry has ventured that such charges may actually be against the law. The BBC submitted a Freedom of Information request to the 116 trusts in England, and of those that responded 37 admitted to charging the disabled to park. For example, the Royal Cornwall Hospital, in Truro, charges £4.80 for two to four hours, the most expensive in the country.

Breach of the Equality Act

Mr Fry believes that those trust who believe it fair to charge disabled people to park could be in breach of the Equality Act. In an interview he said:

“Inevitably it will cost someone more to park because of their disability, and that must be clearly wrong. Treating somebody less favourably as a result of their disability amounts to a breach of the Equality Act. That gives the individual affected by that a right of action against the local authority – either by judicial review or by way of a civil claim for compensation.”

Department of Health Responds

A Department of Health spokesman, when confronted with the claims, responded:

“Patients who need to go to hospital often or for long periods of time have a fundamental right to fair and appropriate car parking concessions, and we expect hospital trusts to provide them. All NHS organisations should support equality and ensure that there is no unlawful discrimination.”

As many disabled people will naturally need to attend hospital on a more regular basis than the able bodied there is considerable concern over charges for disabled parking. Mr Fry is calling for charges to be scrapped in light of the possible illegality of the concept.

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Leveson Recommends Statutory Press Control

Posted by admin on December 3, 2012 No comments

As expected, the results of the Leveson Inquiry have indicated that a Bill should be devised to control the press in the UK. The report has met with derision in the media world, and has divided the government. Lord Leveson is scathing in his attack on the way the newspapers operate, in particular with reference to the now defunct News of the World. Part of his report reads:

“Most corporate entities would be appalled that employees were involved in the commission of crime in order to further their business. Not so at the News of the World. When the police sought to execute a warrant, they were confronted and driven off by the staff of the newspaper.”

Press Complaints Commission Failed

Leveson is adamant that the Press Complaints Commission needs replacing, explaining:

“The press needs to establish a new regulatory body, which is truly independent of industry leaders and of government and politicians. It must promote high standards of journalism and protect both the public interest and the rights of individuals. The chair and other members of the body must be independent and appointed by a fair and open process.”

There is likely to be strong opposition from many quarters to any attempt to gaga the UK press, which has always been regarded highly thanks to its free nature.

No Need for New Press Laws – Culture Secretary

Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, is one of many to oppose any strangulation of the press, while Prime Minister David Cameron has also expressed concern, and stated he believed the members of the press should be given time to demonstrate its ability to get its house in order. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, however, believes that the Leveson proposals are ‘workable’, a suggestion that seems to be echoed by Labour leader Ed Milliband.

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Banks Can Reach £16 Billion by 2013

Posted by admin on December 3, 2012 No comments

Bank analysts forecast that the UK financial industry might face the predicted £16 billion by 2013 based on current evidence that the payment protection insurance crisis can definitely become more expensive by the end of the year. To date, the UK PPI compensation package has reached £12.96 billion. Analysts state that banks have mis sold at least 34 million PPI policies as they have only compensated 500,000 claims in the Financial Ombudsman.

Most customers also believe that they are owed more than what the banks have decided to provide them. Some banks continue to reject claims, having the customers make their claims once again at the Financial Ombudsman. Some banks say that they only keep records from six years in the past, indicating that all debts the banks and customers have beyond six years ago are “forgiven”. But still many customers push banks to look into their records and add up the compound interests the PPI has incurred throughout the years.

Analysts state that if most remaining customers have the similar case, chances are banks will need to reserve more money that what they originally estimate. Another factor they see is that claims management companies continue to contact customers to make a claim. It is estimated that 50% of the compensation package’s amounts go to repayment fees for CMCs.

However, Financial Ombudsman Chief Natalie Ceeney states that it is not the fault of CMCs as they are only doing their job, which was originally the job of banks. Banks early this year have been tasked by the Financial Services Authority to contact possible customers mis sold PPI, which they did not make good out of.

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