Wills and Caring for the Vulnerable

Preparing your Will to provide for your family and loved ones is of vital importance, not only to ensure that they receive what you wish them to but also to ensure your Estate is maximised by taking tax planning advice. Intestacy on the other hand can cause great heartache and badly planned Wills can lead to disputes causing delay and expense to your Estate. Although preparing a Will is sometimes a difficult matter to contemplate, we can assist you in ensuring that the future for your loved ones is well planned for. For some people, Living Wills may be of comfort, allowing an individual of sound mind to indicate circumstances in which they do or do not wish to continue medical treatment and giving them the opportunity to appoint a Healthcare Proxy to make decisions on their behalf.

A Lasting Power of Attorney can relate to both health and care decisions and financial decisions, allowing you to appoint someone to make those decisions on your behalf. Without a Lasting Power of Attorney it would be necessary to apply to the Court of Protection for a Court-appointed Deputy to act when you are unable to if you lack capacity to make decisions yourself. Applications to the Court of Protection can be lengthy and expensive. A power of attorney can help you avoid this cost. Our solicitors can assist you in avoiding those expenses and delays and to simplify matters for you in the future, thereby providing great comfort to you and your family in times of need.

A ‘personal injury trust’ or a ‘special needs trust’ is a form of trust. We can assist in setting up a personal injury trust.

A trust is a relationship that is recognised and enforceable in the courts. Where there is an award of compensation for a personal injury, a trust arises for the injured person when that award is put under the control of other persons (the trustees).

By putting your compensation for your personal injury into a trust you should be able to retain your entitlement to state benefits.
Your trustees can look after your property in the trust even if you cannot. That may be particularly important later in life.

Your trustees can help share the burden of sorting out your paperwork which naturally arises when money is invested.

As well as preparing Wills and Powers of Attorney, we can assist with the protection of the family home, lifetime gifts, nursing home fee planning and personal income tax. We aim to assist in the smooth running of personal matters at some of the most difficult times for families so it is one less thing for you to worry about.

Whether purchasing a new home together with someone else or undertaking complex gifts or tax planning measures, it is quite common to wish to hold property between people in differing shares. This is commonly undertaken with a ‘bare trust’ through a document usually called a Declaration of Trust or a Deed of Trust. We are familiar and experienced with such documents including the potential pitfalls, risks and tax consequences for clients and shall be happy to advise on how to keep your shares protected.