Following this morning’s announcement at The Supreme Court that heterosexual couples can enter into a civil partnership, Shona Young, Family Law Solicitor at Gilson Gray (pictured), explains why people may choose this instead of marriage.

The Supreme Court this morning has ruled that heterosexual couples can enter into a civil partnership, finding that the Civil Partnership Act 2004 is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

With married couples being seen by many in the gay rights lobby to enjoy a higher status than those in a civil partnership, many are asking: Why would a couple who can be legally married want to instead enter into a civil partnership?

The Law Society has responded to the new discount rate policy, announced by the Ministry of Justice on 7 September.

The MoJ claims the reforms will make sure personal injury victims get the right compensation and could also see significant savings for the NHS – as well as for motorists through lower car insurance premiums.

Changes mean the rate would be set by reference to ‘low risk’ rather than ‘very low risk’ investments as at present, better reflecting evidence of the actual investment habits of claimants, the MoJ says.

The rate will also be reviewed at least every three years – and the expertise available to the Lord Chancellor in carrying out the reviews will be extended by the creation of a role for an independent expert panel in the process.

A new government form that looks to 'name and shame' adulterers is set to make the process of divorce even more complicated.

That’s according to family solicitor Sally Powell (pictured), Partner at law firm Tees, who says the latest changes to the application form were meant to streamline the process, but may well have the opposite effect.

“The government has called it a user-friendly form, as it appears simple for couples to do their own “quickie online divorce”. However, we are concerned that the changes could slow down the divorce process. There’s real potential for the form to steer people towards a course of action they didn’t intend – or even expect – by naming a third party in the petition. This could slow down their divorce, and make the process even more emotionally fraught.

Randox Testing Services has published an update on its investigation into the manipulation of toxicology data at its laboratories in Manchester and Crumlin.

The statement says: “RTS itself uncovered what it believed was evidence of data manipulation in January 2017 when it acted as whistleblower in reporting its suspicions to the police. The subsequent police enquiry into practices at RTS laboratories and those run by other companies has led to the arrest of two people. A criminal investigation into their alleged activities is on-going.”

The statement goes on to detail the scale of the problem.