According to the BBC article ‘Divorce Rates Data- How Has It Changed?’, 34% of marriages will end before they reach their 20th anniversary, divorce rates are highest amongst 40-44 year olds and 1 in 3 of all marriages will end in divorce.  These sad statistics reveal that today divorce is the unfortunate reality of many people today so at least you can take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.

The first thing that struck me after I had finalized my divorce was my sense of loneliness. Although there had been problems in my marriage for many years, I had always seen myself as part of a unit  or a couple and so re-branding my identity that represented this new me was important.  I couldn’t think of a version of me that did things without my now ex-husband and thinking of things that  I alone enjoyed had me confused! I ended up joining the gym and really getting into yoga as it had a real calming effect on me and helped me centre my emotions.

another really important factor of moving on after a divorce is to clear any debris of the marriage out of your new space.  As human beings, we’re innately wired to attach meaning to arbitrary objects. I’m not saying to throw out your memories as this is also counterproductive, but clearing them away and storing them is a good idea so bad memories are not conjured up when you least expect them.  Since I was living in a much smaller flat and I had a lot of stuff, I found this blog ‘15 hideaway storage ideas for small spaces‘ by Apartment Therapy really helpful when coming up with creative solutions.

Finances are another really complicated issue when it comes to divorce.  I never looked after that sort of area so when I got divorced, I was at a true loss as to what to do. Luckily, I found The Woman’s Wealth Expert who specialises in financial planning for women and she really helped me get my books straight.

Finally, when divorcing keeping a good network of friends and family close is essential.  You shouldn’t feel like you’re a hassle or an inconvenience.  Your friends are always more willing to help you than you think so you should utilise them! Try not to dwell on issues from the past and instead, concentrate on your future because there really is a life after divorce.

Mobility Allowance / Motability

Depending on the severity of your mobility restriction, you may be entitled to either the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance. The mobility component has two rates, lower and higher, which are awarded depending on meeting certain eligibility criteria. The lower rate will enable people with smaller impairments to meet additional costs such as taxi fares. The higher rate of mobility allowance can be used to lease a car on the Motability scheme. Part or all of the allowance can be exchanged for a car that you will keep for 3 years. At the end of the 3 year period the car is replaced with a new one. Most car dealerships are participants in the Motability scheme and some are able to provide adaptations to vehicles such as additional steering wheel controls.

Help For Non Drivers

If you have never driven, or your impairment means that you can no longer drive you may still be able to get a vehicle on the Motability scheme. Your partner or a nominated person can drive a Motability scheme car for you. Companies such as Gleneagles Conversions specialise in wheelchair accessible vehicles. These cars have been adapted to include ramps or lifts to get you into the car without having to leave your wheelchair.  If you do not qualify for the higher rate of the mobility component of DLA, companies such as Gleneagles also deal with second hand vehicles that may be perfectly suited to your needs.

Another option available under the Motability scheme is a mobility scooter. Electric mobility scooters can be used by anyone, without need for a driving license. In most cases you will not need to surrender your entire mobility allowance to get a mobility scooter.

In Home Adaptations

Making the home accessible is just as important as outdoor mobility. Installation of a stair lift can give mobility impaired people the freedom to enjoy their entire home. Dependent on your circumstances you may be able to get help with the cost of installation of stair lifts and other home adaptations in the form of a disabled facilities grant from the government.

In the UK a preferential creditor is a creditor that receives payment before other creditors when the debtor enters into some form of insolvency. When a company or individual goes into liquidation there is an order of priority under which creditors are paid (once the fees of insolvency practitioner’s have been paid).

The first people to get paid under English company law are secured creditors i.e. those who have a fixed charge over a debtor’s asset (usually registered at Companies House). After secured creditors preferential creditors are paid. Preferential creditors usually consist of employee’s remuneration including wages, holiday pay, pension payments and so on (within certain limits).

Preferential creditors are followed by creditors who hold a floating charge and finally unsecured creditors such as trade creditors, lenders of any unsecured loans and shareholders. In most cases, due to the debtor’s insolvency, it is rare for anyone other than secured creditors and preferential creditors to get paid. Usually in liquidation, where there is not enough money to pay preferential creditors in full they are paid a proportion of the money they are owed, for example, 50p in every £1 that was owed.

The rights of preferential creditors are protected under the Insolvency Act 1986.

Preferential Creditors and Insolvency

Liquidation

A company goes into liquidation through either of the following:

• Members / Shareholders Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) – where the company goes into liquidation but expects to be able to pay its creditors
• Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) – when a company becomes insolvent (i.e. unable to pay debts when they fall due) and is forced into liquidation by a creditor(s)
• Compulsory Liquidation – where the company is forced into liquidation by one of its creditors or the court

With a CVL and MVL an insolvency practitioner is appointed to realise the company’s assets and distribute them to secured or preferential creditors. With compulsory liquidation the court appoints an official receiver to realise the company’s assets and distribute them to secured or preferential creditors (where possible).

Administration

A company can go into administration either by way of an order form the court, appointment by an eligible floating charge holder or an appointment by the company or its directors. Amongst other duties, such as trying to rescue the company, it is the duty of the administrator to realise the company’s assets and distribute them to secured or preferential creditors.

Bankruptcy

An individual can be made bankrupt either by an order of the court or following a bankruptcy petition from a creditor. The duty to wind up the individual’s affairs becomes the responsibility of the trustee in bankruptcy including for the realisation of the company’s assets and the distribution to secured or preferential creditors.

Preference

A preferential creditor should not be confused with the principle of preference. A preference under Section 239 of the Insolvency Act 1986 occurs when a debtor pays a particular creditor or group of creditors outside of the statutory order of payments, thereby putting that creditor in a better position than they ought to be in before entering into a formal insolvency such as bankruptcy or administration. In order for there to be a preference there has to be a desire to create a preference.

Where there has been found to be a preference payment made action can be taken against the beneficiary and the party making the payment (the company and / or its directors) including disqualification where wrongful trading is proven.

Consider the following example:

Company A, after trading successfully for a number of years, suddenly has a downturn in business. Upon realising that the company is insolvent the director decides to pay off creditor X and creditor Y (unsecured creditors) to ease the burden on the company. Upon entering into liquidation an investigation by the court appointed official receiver  reveals that creditor Y is the brother of Company A’s director. In this example there is not only a clear preference but a clear desire to create a preference.

A preference should always be avoided and creditors should be treated either equally or in the statutory order.

Useful Links

Guide to shareholder rights

http://www.darlingtons.com/site/srvbusiness/srvcompanylaw/shareholders_rights/

Business Solicitors

http://www.gannons.co.uk

Finances: If you are no longer able to work as a result of your injury, there are a number of things you can do. Firstly, get in touch with your local benefits office and see if you are eligible for disability or carer’s allowance. All the information you need can be found on this website: https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/disability It’s important to take care of yourself financially, so it’s not an added stress to your life. If you are for whatever reason not eligible for these benefits, then depending on the nature of your injury and how it was dealt with, you could get in touch with a brain injury lawyer. Claiming some compensation for your injury will put your mind at ease, and not add to the already difficult task of adjusting to your injury.

Community resources: Depending on your injury and the extent of your needs, you could make use of some local facilities. Whether it is rehabilitation programmes, hired help or community outreach programmes, getting involved in your local community services will give you or your loved one a support network that takes the pressure off. It’s important to reach out to members of the community, and with the range of services and support in your neighbourhood, it’ll be worth your time.

Carers workshop: If you have become a carer for a loved one who is suffering from a brain injury, it’s worth taking some time to learn the best methods and techniques. Headway are an organisation that co-ordinate a regular carer’s workshop, led by a leading occupational therapist. They teach a carer how to deal with the practicalities of caring for someone with a brain injury, as well as dealing with difficult behaviour and, most importantly, getting any help they may need. Remember that life can be very difficult for full-time carers, and by going to a workshop or community group, you can get the support network that you may need.

So if you or a loved one has recently sustained a brain injury, remember that there is help at hand! Get involved with your community and remember there’s nothing wrong with asking for help – it’ll make life a lot easier, and you’ll make some lifelong friends in the process.

It turns out the stairs were rather tougher than I thought and had managed to break three of my ribs that had then managed to crush my lung, not the most pleasant experience of my life and I had the extra pain of having to be off work for 6 weeks to recover and having nothing but my small amount of savings to fall back on. After a short time I realised this wasn’t going to be even nearly enough and that I needed to find money to compensate for my wages somewhere, after a little while a friend encouraged me to make a personal injury claim against my company. I had first been apprehensive as I thought that I would not be able to go back to work after claiming against the company I worked for but after thinking about it again I realised that it was money that I was owed. Not only was I owed this money, it was merely replacing the wages that I would have earned if I had been able to work.

After a quick trawl of the internet I managed to find an injury lawyer that offered No Win No Fee Compensation and had an incredibly high success rate. After a few phone calls and meetings with solicitors and then a period of waiting for offers I eventually had the money in my account and was able to stop living from my savings. Any fears that I had about starting back at work after my claim were unfounded and I found that people were more concerned that I was feeling better and the claim is yet to be mentioned at work.

Most people use social media to keep in contact and communicate with a large network of people, businesses and charities can do this in a similar way, most finding it extremely convenient and effective. The most popular and widely used social media platforms are those that are free (no surprise there!) such as Facebook, Twitter and You Tube, so if you want to promote your cause then you should get yourself accounts on all 3.

Facebook can be a very effective way to communicate with thousands (even millions) of potential donors because it is a very personal and people generally like to show their support for worthy causes on Facebook. By commenting on statuses and updating with your news you can generate interest and very quickly have your updates being seen by new people as your network reaches the friends of your already loyal supporters. Converting this support into cash isn’t so easy unless there is some incentive for users or links pointing them to places where they can make donations (as this cannot be integrated into social media at the present time.)

You tube is an incredible resource when you consider the fact that it is free. Data storage and file hosting online can be very expensive as anyone who is doing so can tell you. So a site that will let you host infinite amounts of video online is invaluable to anyone looking to promote themselves, charities and businesses alike. Additionally, users could stumble upon your promotional video very organically as they browse through the related videos to the one they are currently watching – meaning your potential viewers are already the perfect demographic.

Twitter can be very valuable for promotion because it is limited to a single short sentence that just momentarily captures the attention of the user. So if you have a particular campaign or cause to promote, you could tweet about it and expect to increase your reach. Also hash tags are a small # symbol that allows you to specifically target the audience that you desire. For example, if you were launching a promotional campaign in Norwich you could hash tag words like ‘Norwich’ and ‘charity’ and then anyone searching for any of those terms on twitter will find you.

The perfect promotional campaign is an effective mix of traditional and digital promotional techniques encouraging communication and loyalty within your supporter base. Combining the two if your budget allows is the most effective way, maybe offering promotional gifts which are branded is always good as people are very interested in receiving something in return for their support. Just some food for thought.

When you’re young (at least in my case) you find that you need less, you can carry a backpack around with you and feel that you have everything you need. You don’t have that much to really call your own, nothing that you’ve worked too hard to earn, or that has stayed with you for the duration of your life. As you get older you may find yourself inevitably hoarding many of your possessions, after all, now that you have time to reflect they may act as a source of solace or comfort, embedded with memories. Furthermore, as your build up a family you begin to receive more possessions that you treasure, or more that can enhance how much you enjoy your life during your free time.

If you want to keep hold of your belongings as you move into a retirement home, perhaps the most viable option would be to get in contact with a modular building suppliers, they can give you regular access to a modular unit with many of your belongings inside. This way you won’t clutter up your new residence or have to ditch anything you might one day regret.

It may also help to visit the residence long before you move in, this way you can begin to get to know the people there, or become more at ease with the environment and judge rationally whether it is really for you. You may get to see how procedure works, what the food is like, ask what the staff expect of you and get a couple of honest testimonials regarding the place. If possible it would be highly motivating to get to see what your room would be like.

All in all, it is important to approach the situation with optimism – there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy retirement just as much, if not more, than working life. Stats say that the retired folk are often the happiest, yes that’s right, the elderly are not resigned to being as grumpy as they are often portrayed.

All in all having a low self esteem leaves you looking and feeling worse about yourself, it is time to break this cycle and understand that you have plenty of reasons to feel confident, to understand that you do have good qualities. I am always cautious when stating clichés, but it is scientifically proven that being confident will get you more dates than being attractive will. When a group of men were asked to pose for photos both before wearing lynx and after, women found the men wearing lynx more attractive, and this is because they felt more attractive in themselves. Being confident in yourself gives you a radiance and attractiveness. Similarly a study at Webster University showed that it was the women that smiled at men with a direct gaze that were more frequently approached – it was those that worked hardest not those who were prettiest who thrived.

In a recent study looking into Botox, scientists and researchers discovered that the act of smiling can actually influence the experience of emotions. It is said that smiling can actually make you feel happier whilst frowning can genuinely make you feel down. I was always conscious about my teeth as a child and so was burdened with an uncomfortable close-mouthed grin – but once I underwent teeth whitening in Manchester, I felt far more confident and generally (because I wasn’t suppressing a smile) happier. Nothing good comes of a bad self esteem, try to open your mind and gain a little confidence and the results will change just about everything.

1. Travel – people say travel broadens the mind, and they are not wrong. As someone that worked full time I never really got the opportunity to travel. Holidays during school or university would also be spent working to gain some money – so now is the perfect time to grab the opportunity. As a senior citizen you can get some really great discounts for transport! It may even be worth living in a foreign country for a while! I invested in a motor home and have explored more of Britain in 2 months than I think I have in my entire lifetime.
2. Go back into education: this is the perfect opportunity to scrub up on what you’re interested in, it keeps you busy and definitely lays waste to the old saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. It doesn’t have to be intense or stressful; nowadays you can take courses from home or just go to lessons once or twice a week.
3. Write a list: Write down everything that you feel like doing at any given time (even if you cannot do it at that very moment). Of course I am not saying you should undergo anything as cheesy as a bucket list, it’s just that sometimes when you feel like you have nothing to do you can refer to this list and tick off some boxes!
4. Spend time with your family: no matter how mundane you may feel your life is, you will no doubt get some stories from your family. I myself often find myself living through my grand-children. The last thing you want to do is hide yourself away like many others. Even if you don’t have much family, join a society or club even get on social networking sites like Facebook and twitter to catch up with old friends.
5. Blog: The internet can be a daunting place for some, but I have found that nothing puts me into a state of calm like having a rant on a blog, it’s also a means of interacting with like-minded others. There is so much in the world that I wish to discuss and more happening every day that you will never be out of something to write.

Now you have a variety of things to do during your retirement, there is no need to sit in silence – get yourself motivated and out there!

Research undertaken over the last few years has served to indicate that there are many benefits to disabled adults and children of owning a dog. Studies have shown that owning a dog can provide a great deal of companionship as well as being able to assist and retrieve things. Moreover, studies have also shown that children with autism and cerebral palsy also benefit significantly from dog ownership.

The Autistic Society have released data to show that dogs are a significant source of comfort and companionship for children with autism and resulted in the foundation of PAWS (Parents Autism Workshops and Support) which aims to lay down the fundamental issues surrounding the pros and cons of adding a dog to the family. This research has been backed by researchers of canine behaviour at Lincoln University and the project will help each parent and child through the process of choosing a dog in order to support the development of their child.

According to one case study reported by the society, through attending workshops with their dog, the Saunders family noticed significant improvements in their son, Oak;

“Oak had demonstrated real signs of stress and anxiety around getting dressed and putting his shoes on – mainly because he associated them with leaving the house and doing something he didn’t want to do. The workshops helped us come up with a plan where Boogie would bring Oak his socks, shoes and a jumper from Oak’s bedroom down to where he was playing in the living room. Boogie realised the training and it was a delight to see and hear Oak smiling and laughing as he put on his shoes and socks rather than the previous protests”

Similarly, the Evans family said of their son Christian;

“Christian has made huge progress. He is much more sociable and willing to go out. His sleeping routine has improved now and he shows more signs of affection towards me, his dad and others.”

Research has also suggested that a child with cerebral palsy will also benefit immensely from owning a pet. A dog can help to reduce stress and teach the child feelings of responsibility as well as promote enhanced social skills and help to prevent feelings of isolation and loneliness. Charities such as Dogs for the Disabled are contributing in a great way to the cause, and further research is continuing in order to further understand the benefits.

However, if you are thinking about purchasing a dog you should be mindful that they will more than likely have to undergo specific training in order to be fully integrated into the family. Barry Hainsworth, who specialises in dog training in Epsom, commented;

“Having a dog around is great – it can relieve stress, help to assist in various things and provide a source of constant companionship but you will need to make sure that you seek appropriate training. This way you will be able to live in harmony and ensure that you and the dog are getting the most out of your relationship.”