New figures show that contentious probate disputes have risen by 56% over the past five years, with caveat applications — the legal tool used to freeze a probate application while a dispute is investigated — up 12% in the most recent year alone, reaching 11,589 by mid-2025. If you're currently administering an estate, or expect to be named as an executor, this surge means the odds of a will being challenged are meaningfully higher than they were even a few years ago, and it's worth understanding why before a dispute catches you off guard.

New industry data published this week shows that 37% of homebuyers in England and Wales have been gazumped — outbid by a rival buyer after already agreeing a price — up from around a third just two years ago. Almost eight in ten buyers say they want the practice banned outright, and more than half of those gazumped ended up out of pocket, with the average cost of a collapsed deal now running to around £2,400 in wasted survey fees, legal costs, and mortgage arrangement charges. If you're currently buying a home, this is a timely reminder that "sold subject to contract" means exactly that — subject to contract, and nothing more.

The government has confirmed it will repeal the presumption of parental involvement from the Children Act 1989 through the new Courts and Tribunals Bill, ending a legal starting point that has shaped child arrangements decisions in England and Wales for over a decade. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the change means "every child deserves to be safe, every victim deserves to be heard, and every family deserves a justice system they can trust." For any parent currently negotiating, or expecting to negotiate, arrangements for their children after a separation, this is a genuine shift in how the family court approaches contact — not just a technical legal tweak.

New figures obtained from HM Land Registry this month show 55 confirmed cases of property fraud between April 2025 and March 2026, where criminals impersonated homeowners in an attempt to sell their property, remortgage it, or transfer ownership using forged documents. It sounds like a small number set against the millions of homes in England and Wales, but for the handful of families it happens to, the consequences can be devastating — and the experts behind the figures warn the true scale is likely far higher, since fraud attempts that are caught before completion often go unrecorded.