LEGAL INQUIRY COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 305, 26 December 1931, Page 14

LEGAL INQUIRY COLUMN.

(By BARRISTER AT LAW.)

[Letters of inquiry will be answered every week in this column. As far as possible they will be dealt with in the order in which they are received, and replies will be Inserted with the least possible delay.]

JUNE.—You may petition for a divorce on the grounds of mutual separation. KATLEERAN (R.A.F.).—It was certain that you would be ordered to pay interest at the lower rate and accordingly costs were vertain to lie awarded against you unless you paid the amount admitted- into Court. In that event the claim would have been restricted to the amount in dispute namely the extra interest. You would then have succeeded and costs would have been awarded agah.st the ether party. As it is the other pa.-ty pneeoerlod as to 80 per cent of his claim and was rightly allowed his 'costs against you. INSURANCE.—Without perusing the pollcy it is not possible to lie positive, but I should be surprised if you could not insist upon payment in London in English legal tender. ALBION.—The Act does not lav down any definition. It is a question of fact to be decided in each case upon the evidence unless the local by-laws contain a definition. From vour description I should say that a' prosecution would succeed. ANXIOUS.—UnIess your earnings exceed £52 in a year your pension will not be affected. DESPERATE].—If your husband Is obtain-! ing work as a married mail you should be receiving some share of his pav. You should see the maintenance officer at the Magistrate's Court. T.H.—Death duty consists of estate duty and succession duty. Estate duty is levied at a rate increasing with the value of the estate. S tccession duty varies with the relationship of the successor or beneficiary with the deceased. If you submit particulars of the value of the estate and maimer in which it is to be divided I can advise you what the duties will be under the existing scale. 1.0.U. — (1) You may not remove the workshop. (2) It is not usual or necessary for the parties to appear in proceedings under the Mortgagors Relief Act. CANUCK.—You appear to be entitled to the pension. You may be able to prove your age by means other than producing your birth certificate. Get whatever evidence of your age that you can obtain and then apply. P.Q.R. —A lease by deed for either of the terms you mention is valid both in England and New Zealand. Whether a lease other than by deed would be valid depends on whether there has been part performance. If the lease was oral it would be most difficult to prove the terms even if there had been part performance. If no rent was fixed or agreed upon or paid, then unless the lease was by deed it would be invalid.