Everyday Legal - the first 4 month trading Blog

_{Photo of the Founders John & Andy
taken Feb'2020 (before COVID-19 UK lockdown/social distancing)}

What is popular in our first 4 months of trading so far?

Well, time has really flown. We launched on the 24th February 2020. It is clearly an understatement to say that we have had an unusual start taking into account this year’s events.

I thought this week would be a good opportunity to take stock and let you know the most sought-after templates and areas of work have been asked for so far.

Just to remind everyone that we offer a wide selection of ready-made legal templates of agreements and letters for self-populating, together with a tailor-made service for those of you who require something individually written.

So far, we have had a healthy mix of the two areas.

In no particular order, the following are the most popular areas to date.

Shareholder difficulties

A surprisingly high number of businesses clearly do not have any Shareholder Agreements in place. As mentioned in a previous blog, relations between shareholders can and probably will change as time progresses. What can start as a happy and rosy relationship can morph into something more fractious and the absence of any agreement setting out rights and obligations can be dangerous and expensive.

Firstly, several Shareholder Agreements templates have been ordered through our site. This really does suggest a need for them.

Secondly, however, we have already been provided with proof by our customers that the absence of these agreements can be so problematic. So far, in the short life of Everyday Legal, the most requested tailor-made documents are Settlement Agreements (you can find our HR related self-service template here), ironing out disputes between dissenting shareholders.

In every situation we have encountered so far, had there been a regular shareholder agreement in place, this remedial drafting work would not have been required thereby saving the shareholders time, expense and of course the stress of a damaged relationship.

The consequences of the settlement agreements have varied from buying out shareholders’ interests to shareholders leaving the company but being responsible for paying cash back into the company.

Employment Contracts

We have noticed a number of contracts being ordered on site which suggests that a number of businesses do not have these Employment Contracts in place. It is interesting to note that Senior Employment Contracts feature amongst these.

It is not only contracts; we supplied a suite of Redundancy Letter templates to a company who revealed it was seeking to remove a director from payroll by way of redundancy. The difficulty facing this company was the failure to have any senior employee contracts in place. Accordingly, there were no clear roles, responsibilities nor crystallised notice period evident.

Ultimately the redundancy payment was probably higher than necessary. Good for the individual but not so good for the business!

Policies

The company I refer to above also decided to order a small set of relevant Policies (also not in place). We supplied HR Related Policies such as Disciplinary Policy, Sickness Policy, Grievance Procedure, and Redundancy Policy. I can vouch from my own professional experience that having policies in place really makes life easier.

Last Will and Testament

Unsurprisingly given the Covid-19 situation a lot of people have either taken out their first will or reviewed their existing will. We have received some lovely feedback about the quality of content and value for money of our Last Will and Testament.

Matrimonial Situations

It is clear that individuals are actually more than capable of handling some (if not all) of their own affairs. Our letter selection has proved most popular with our personal customers as has the Declaration of Trust document.

However, I would like to specifically refer to one of our personal customers. He divorced a while back (using a solicitor) and was obliged to raise a lump sum in favour of his ex-wife’s interest in the matrimonial home. The time has come for him to pay up. He has raised the money privately and asked us to prepare a Private Loan document and Declaration of Trust document which of course we happily did. Not only is he delighted with the service provided but he has saved a considerable sum of money by not incurring High Street solicitors’ charges.

Working from Home

This is so hot at the moment. I dealt with flexible working in my last 2 blogs. We have had high interest in both our Office Sharing Agreement template and Home Office Rental Agreement template. People really are intending to change the way they work.

Well that was the first 4-month high level summary but let’s look forward to the future!

John Davies

26th June 2020

Saving you time and money

We hope you enjoy our short informative blogs. We are all about empowering the individual to take better ownership and control of the legal aspects of their personal and business life. We have a plethora of legal document templates that are quick and easy to explore and create. What's more, creation and editing is free. Explore our templates here

Can't find what you are after?

Well don't forget, as well as self service legal templates, we can offer a "Tailor made document" service ! It's easy to get in touch right here .