Who: Peter Dodd is a partner at Nockolds Solicitors in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. He specialises in family law.


Why is he in the news? Mr Dodd acts for Cyd Negus, who featured in the media last week under the headlines 'Tycoon's lover wins battle of wills with £600,000 award' and 'Lover wins court fight with dead tycoon's son'. The High Court rejected the executors' assertion that Ms Negus had been reasonably provided for under the deceased's estate.



She lived with Henry Bahouse for eight years - unfortunately, he took his own life and had not provided for Ms Negus under his will. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a claim was made on behalf of Ms Negus as a dependant and sought reasonable financial provision.



She stated that she had given up work to become a housewife for the deceased and they had plans to marry. The court ruled that in the circumstances of the case, a reasonable financial provision for Ms Negus's lifetime would be the transfer of the property that she was living in free of mortgage and a payment of £240,000. The possession claim issued by the estate was dismissed.



Background: Graduated from the University of Bristol in 1991 with a degree in psychology. He took his conversion course and Law Society finals at the College of Law in Guildford. Mr Dodd trained with the Courts Service and worked as a general litigator in private practice before being asked to join Nockolds and head the family department in 2001. He is the chairman of Resolution Hertfordshire and the Herts Collaborative Family Lawyers group.



Route to the case: 'The client contacted me through recommendation from a family client I had acted for. She came to me as she had been asked by the executors to vacate her property or face possession proceedings.'



Thoughts on the case: 'For a family law specialist, it was an unusual path that my client and I were forced to take after proceedings were issued and the matter went to a fully contested final hearing at the High Court. As the law is governed by the Civil Procedure Rules rather than Family Proceedings Rules, the risk in relation to costs for the client, if we had lost, would have been significant.



'This is an important judgment for cohabitees - until the suggested changes in the law put forward by the Law Commission are debated, we are left as family lawyers with guiding clients through the complicated areas of trust and property law, schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 and Inheritance Act provisions to protect their rights.'



Dealing with the media: 'As family cases are private and as most of our cases settle rather than going to final hearing, it was certainly an eye-opener being approached by the media and having the case reported in the press and the law reports.'