In the last edition of the Gazette (25 March) the Law Society announced that it had managed to secure a postponement on the abolition of the recoverability of success fees and insurance premiums in insolvency cases until 2015.

Picture the scene: a trustee in bankruptcy applies for an order for sale of a property jointly owned by the husband and wife following the husband’s bankruptcy. The trustee’s solicitors will be able to charge up to double their normal fee and the after-the-event premium, leaving the wife with little or nothing to house herself out of the sale proceeds. How is this a good thing?

Peter Hatvany, partner, Parker Bullen, Wiltshire and Hampshire