OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND - The Journal Online

Journal
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Obituaries
RONALD FRASER DEAN,
(retired solicitor), Edinburgh
On 21st September 2001,
Ronald Fraser Dean, formerly
partner of Davidson & Garden,
Advocates, Aberdeen.
AGE: 93 ADMITTED: 1934
COLIN NEALE McDONALD
Cumnock
On 25th October 2001, Colin
Neale McDonald, partner of
R D Hunter & Company,
Cumnock.
AGE: 48 ADMITTED: 1980
HORATIO PATRICK
KILMURRY, (retired solicitor),
Ayr
On 26th October 2001,
Horatio Patrick Kilmurry,
formerly employed by
Strathclyde Regional Council,
Glasgow
AGE: 84 ADMITTED: 1946
CAMPBELL WHITE, Glasgow
On 27th October 2001,
Campbell White, partner of
Wright Johnston & Mackenzie,
Glasgow.
AGE: 66 ADMITTED: 1956
DENNIS MENZIES, (retired
solicitor), Bournemouth
On 11th November 2001,
Dennis Menzies Dawson,
Bournemouth.
AGE: 74 ADMITTED: 1968
Conveyancing Committee
THE following question was posed to the Conveyancing Committee at a recent roadshow
In the settlement of conveyancing transactions, should
the practice be discouraged whereby the seller’s
solicitor only sends the Disposition and other titles to
the purchaser’s solicitor on or after the day of
settlement, whereby the purchaser’s solicitor can only
be sure that a validly executed Disposition has been
placed in his hands after his settlement cheque has
been encashed, by which point he has lost control of
his clients and/or his clients’ lender’s money? Is the
former practice of exchanging cheque and Disposition
and titles on the day of settlement itself not safer, and
better risk management?
The Committee agrees. Although the mechanics of
settlement are something which ought to be the matter
Diligence against earnings
of agreement between the solicitors, the Committee
feels that, where postal settlement is envisaged, the
preferable course of action, wherever possible, is that
the seller’s Solicitor should send the executed deed and
deliverable title deeds contemporaneously with the
purchaser’s solicitor sending the settlement cheque, each
to be held by the receiving party as undelivered pending
performance by the other side, to be confirmed by an
exchange of communications (telephone, fax or e-mail)
on the settlement date itself. The Committee would
encourage all practitioners to adopt this practice.
The Conveyancing Committee are happy to answer questions of
a general nature. People should contact Linsey Lewin, Secretary
to the Committee, linseylewin@lawscot.org.uk
Regulations making variations to the Tables of Deductions from Earnings detailed in Schedule 2 of the
Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 came into force on December 3.
The Regulations substitute new Tables for those in Schedule 2 to the Act which set out the deductions
made from a person’s pay when that pay is subject to an earnings arrestment.The Regulations also vary
the daily amount of net earnings below which no deduction can be made, by employers,
from £9 to £10 as set out in Section 52(2)(b) and 63(4)(b).
Keeper’s Policy on removal of qualified
Matrimonial Homes Notes from Title Sheets
IN terms of Rule 5(j) of the Land
Registration (Scotland) Rules 1980,
the Keeper is required to insert a
Statement on the Title Sheet as to
the existence of any Occupancy
rights under the Matrimonial Homes
(Scotland) Act 1981, as amended.
This policy is applied to any
property where rights could arise
under the aforementioned legislation.
Where the appropriate
evidence is received, a note is
inserted to the effect that no occupancy
rights subsist over the interest
in land. In the absence of such
evidence, a qualified note is entered
on the Title Sheet disclosing that
occupancy rights under the 1985
Act may exist and identifying the
previous owner in respect of whom
no or insufficient evidence has been
received.
In order to have a qualified note
removed, the Keeper requires to
have the appropriate evidence
submitted by way of a separate
application - the type of evidence
required is covered in para. 6.31 of
the Registration of Title Practice
Book (2nd Ed.). To date there has
been some confusion as to which
particular application form requires
to be submitted when a Matrimonial
Homes note is to be amended with
Summary Cause Rules and Fees
MEMBERS of the Society’s Remuneration
Committee will meet with the Lord President’s
Advisory Committee at a meeting on
December 17th, (after the December Journal
went to print) to put forward their detailed
submission for a revamped Table of Fees in
Summary Causes.
The Society has welcomed the Sheriff Court
Rules Council’s proposals for new rules. Detailed
written pleadings will be abolished for cases
which will be Summary Causes when new limits
come in; there will be no preliminary
plea/debate procedure; no adjustment and
record costs; and none of the traditional amendment
and reprinting costs.The new rules would
bring in what would be a new era for moderate
either a Form 2 or a Form 5 being
used. For the avoidance of doubt the
Keeper wishes to make it known
that a Form 2 is the appropriate
form to use. Accordingly, to achieve
consistency, with effect from 1
January 2002, the Keeper will
require a Form 2 to be submitted
along with any application for
removal of a qualified note in
respect of Matrimonial Homes
Occupancy Rights. Applications
received prior to this date, accompanied
by either application form,
will be accepted.
value litigation. They owe very little to the
existing summary cause framework and much
more to modern ideas of disclosure and settlement,
the Society believes the fee structure
should be altered accordingly and the submission
to the Lord President is in these terms.
Further details will be published in January’s
Journal.