OPG. The government body which oversees attorneys and deputies – it registers LPAs, and assists and monitors attorneys and deputies.

These are official copies of the Land Registers sent to the buyer’s solicitors to prove the seller’s title to the property.

Your advisor is officially representing you. They are likely to write and receive letters on your behalf and represent you at any hearings (unless they have specifically stated otherwise).

Notices given by the employment tribunal instructing one or both parties to do certain tasks, or advise of key dates in relation to the case.

PILON stands for Pay In Lieu of Notice. Instead of placing an employee on gardening leave or making them work their notice, an employer can end the contract of employment earlier by making a payment to the employee that is equivalent to the amount they would have received had they worked their notice.

Word often used by lawyers, referring to the details of a claim or defence.

A wall owned jointly with a neighbour and repairable at shared expense.

Enabling a splitting up of pension rights in a different way to a pension share order and means that a portion of the pension is earmarked to go to the other party usually on retirement.

A type of financial order made by the court which shares your pension fund.

The person who issues divorce proceedings, now known as the Applicant.

Violence to another person which directly results in bodily injury.

Being physically unable to do something.

Approval by the local authority to the building or change of use of a property or extension to an existing property.

The formal documents that set out each side’s case. For example, your claim form (ET1) and the other party’s response (ET3) and any additional information or further particulars.

A reference allocated by the police to an individual crime.

A contract entered into following marriage or civil partnership to regulate division of money and assets in the event of a later separation or divorce.

The document to be signed by somebody to appoint another to act as their attorney.

A contract entered into in contemplation of marriage or civil partnership, usually to regulate division of money and assets in the event of later separation or divorce/dissolution.

In effect, mini hearings held at the employment tribunal.

They are as formal as a final hearing and all necessary documents and witness statements must be disclosed before the hearing takes place. It is also important that all witnesses are in attendance.

Often held to:

decide the preliminary issues in a case;
decide whether the claim or response should be struck out;
decide questions of entitlement to bring or defend a claim or decide if either party’s case has no reasonable prospect of success.

A road maintained by property owners rather than by the local authority. The property owners need to have rights over it as it is not necessarily a public access.

The process of dealing with the estate of someone who has died.

The Court which grants executors and administrators the right to administer deceased people’s estates, and also hears cases where estates are in dispute (contentious probate).

An Order of the Court preventing you from doing something in relation to a child e.g. taking a child abroad.

Evidence, or argument establishing fact.