Author: Rachel Jones

Solicitors for the Elderly (“SFE”) is a national organisation consisting of a select group of members who are qualified, regulated and insured Solicitors, Barristers or Chartered Legal Executives.  These members must specialise in law assisting older and vulnerable clients, and must have substantial experience of providing expert level advice to such clients.  The members receive expert training and are kept up to date by SFE with the latest case law for their older and more vulnerable clients.

With our own Head of Private Client Department, Jade Gani, recently qualifying as an SFE Full Accredited lawyer, we list 10 reasons as to why you should use an SFE accredited lawyer like Jade to get your affairs in order:-

SFE members:

1. Know their stuff

As an SFE accredited lawyer, Jade is a qualified solicitor who has specialised in providing legal advice to older or vulnerable people and their family and carers, and therefore has an expansive knowledge of her legal area.

2. Have years of experience

An SFE lawyer, Jade has been training and focusing on this area of law for many years, and therefore has built up substantial expertise and connections to ensure you receive an all-encompassing service.

3. Are independently accredited

As well as successfully completing all areas to qualify as an accredited member of SFE, Jade has also completed additional training in older client law to qualify for the independently accredited Older Client Care in Practice Award.

4. Follow a strict code of conduct

SFE lawyers like Jade are regulated by a strict code of conduct that centres on respect and dignity for their clients.  They understand the level of service required to meet the needs of older and more vulnerable clients, and how these may differ from others in society.

5. Speak in a language you understand

SFE lawyers like Jade understand that there can be a lot of legal jargon in their profession and that this can be confusing to understand.  She therefore communicates in clear and straightforward language so that you can be confident that you understand any advice or documents you are provided with.

6. Are part of a community of experts

SFE is an organisation that has created a community among the highest specialists in older client law.  With a community of over 1,500 members, no matter how complex or sensitive your case, you can be sure that you will receive the best possible legal advice on all areas.

7. Safeguard your interests

An SFE lawyer, such as Jade, understands your interests and will focus on ensuring you receive advice that is of the highest quality and tailored to your specific needs whilst still being affordable.

8. Understand the bigger picture

There are often wider and sensitive issues surrounding the health, care and family advice that you may be seeking, and an SFE lawyer like Jade will understand this and be able to apply the advice to the bigger picture and how this may affect your plans for later life.

9. Offer the best possible care and support

SFE lawyers, such as Jade, have chosen to specialise in older client law in particular as they care about the more vulnerable members of our society, and helping provide them with support that is tailored to their individual needs and circumstances.

10. Get you the best possible outcome

Ultimately, by choosing an SFE lawyer like Jade you can be confident that you will be guided and supported through a complex and sensitive area of law with the highest level of expertise, and you can be sure that the advice you receive will help protect both and also your loves ones both now and in your later life.

If you would like to speak with Jade about your Private Client Law needs then please do not hesitate to contact her on 01753486777

Aston Bond is delighted to announce that the Head of our Private Client department, Jade Gani, has successfully completed the Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) Older Client care in Practice [“OCCP”] and Older Client Law in Practice [“OCLP”] Awards. This, therefore, means that she joins SFE as a Full Accredited Member, in recognition of her expertise in advising and supporting older and more vulnerable clients.

SFE is a national organisation consisting of a select group of members who are qualified, regulated and insured Solicitors, Barristers or Chartered Legal Executives. These members must specialise in law assisting older and vulnerable clients, and must have substantial experience of providing expert level advice to such clients. SFE continues to support its members by providing expect training and ensuring they are up to date with the latest case law for their older clients.

The Private Client department is excited to continue to grow and develop throughout the upcoming years under Jade’s leadership, and this wouldn’t be possible without the specialist knowledge that Jade brings to the department ensuring all client advice is of the highest standard. Following on from her impressive ‘Young Practitioner of the Year’ win at the British Wills & Probate Awards 2020, we are in no doubt that this is just the start for Jade and there will be much more to come.

More about Jade:

Jade has been the proud Head of the Private Client department at Aston Bond Law Firm since April 2017. Under her careful watch and continued nurturing, the department has flourished; growing year on year, with no signs of slowly down.

With a passion for all that she does, Jade’s mission has been to ensure she is the go-to person for anyone struggling with grief, wanting to proactively tax plan or those vulnerable individuals requiring a touch of extra TLC. She prides herself on being able to connect with her Clients on a personal level, whilst always being able to provide expert, professional advice in simple terms. In particular, Jade suffers from her own invisible illnesses and uses her experiences to adapt and truly empathise with other vulnerable individuals; always being patient and adopting a variety of helpful, unique and inventive ways to capture clear instructions, often in very difficult circumstances. Her dedication to her field and exceptional work meant she was crowned the Young Practitioner of the Year at the British Wills & Probate Awards 2020.

As the landscape of Private Client is constantly changing, Jade continues to study and in addition to being a Full Accredited Member of SFE is also currently an Associate Member of STEP; this helps to ensure she has the advanced knowledge and up to date information required to provide exceptional advice to her clients.

If you would like to speak with Jade in relation to getting your personal affairs in order, then please do not hesitate to contact her on 01753486777 or jgani@astonbond.co.uk.

Did you pay the Office of the Public Guardian to register a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPAs) in England & Wales between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2017?  If yes, then you may be due a refund of up to £54.00, however you will need to be quick as the deadline to claim the refund is the 31st January 2021.

The Ministry of Justice has announced that the fees for registering LPAs were overcharged at a cost of £110.00 between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017, whereas the actual cost should have only been £82.00 due to the operating fees having dropped.  Therefore any applicants who paid the higher fee are now due a refund of the difference between the amount paid and the amount they should have paid, plus interest.

Who can Claim

There are two types of LPAs, one for Property and Financial Affairs and one for Health & Welfare, and if you made both types then you may be able to claim the refund on each LPA, meaning a total refund of up to £108.00 may be claimed for couples.  However, you should only need to make one claim for both Lasting Powers of Attorney made by each donor.

The refund can be claimed by the person who made the LPAs (the donor) or the people who were appointed as attorneys in the LPAs, however, any refund due will be paid directly to the donor.

You can also make a claim if you paid to register an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) between the above dates, as although EPA’s are unable to be made after the 1st October 2007 it is possible that they may have been registered at a later date between the 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2017.

How to Claim

The refund can be claimed online, or you can call the Office of the Public Guardian on 0300 456 0300 (and then select option 6).  You will need the following information to make a claim:

1. The donor’s full name, address and date of birth;
2. The donor’s bank account number and sort code (for the refund to be paid to).  If the donor does not have a bank account, or you are acting as their deputy, then the claim will need to be made via phone;
3. Names of the attorneys appointed on the LPA.

If the donor has died since making the Lasting Powers of Attorney, you may still be able to make a claim for any overpaid registration fee, however you will need to apply via email to poarefunds@justice.gsi.gov.uk or by post to POA Refunds Team, 7th Floor, Office of the Public Guardian, PO Box 16185, Birmingham, B2 2WH.  You will need to send them a copy of the death certificate and the Will, or a grant of representation, along with your contact details.

If you would like further information in relation to LPAs then please do not hesitate to contact call us on 01753 486777.

There are three main ways in which you can own property in the UK;-

1. In your sole name;
2. In your joint names as Joint Tenants; and
3. In your joint names at Tenants in Common.

Sole Name

Holding property in your sole name means that you own the legal title to the whole of the property alone.

Joint Tenants

When you own a property with another person(s) as Joint Tenants, all of the legal proprietors have equal rights to the whole of the property.  This affects how the property will pass on your death, as rather than passing in accordance with the terms of your Will, your property would instead pass via survivorship to any remaining joint proprietor who survived you.

Tenants in Common

When you own a property with another person(s) as Tenants in Common, you each hold your shares in the property separately, and by default, these shares are presumed to be equal.  As the interests in the property are held separately, this means that if one proprietor faced debt proceedings etc., only their specific share of the property may be included as one of their assets.  Holding a property as Tenants in Common also means that when one of the proprietors die their share will pass according to the terms of their Will, rather than to the other proprietors automatically.

What is a Declaration of Trust?

A Declaration of Trust is a legally binding deed that sets out how you own your property with another person(s), and this can include people who are not registered as an owner at the Land Registry.  These deeds can be made at any time whilst you own the property.  

Declarations of Trust can be made in relation to any properties that you own either in your sole name or with another person(s) as Tenants in Common.  However as they determine the beneficial interest each party has in the property, these deeds cannot be set up for properties that are held in joint names as Joint Tenants.  Therefore, the Joint Tenancy would need to be severed in order for a Declaration of Trust to work.  However this is not a complicated procedure and is currently free of charge to register with the HM Land Registry.

Why would I need a Declaration of Trust?

A Declaration of Trust may be required in any situation where you do not wish for each proprietor to have equal interests in the property.  For example, it may be that one party contributed more to the initial deposit price, or that one party does more of the maintenance involved with a rental property etc., and therefore you would like to alter the share so that the respective proprietor has a higher interest in the property to reflect this.  

It may also be required where one proprietor is a higher rate tax payer and the other a basic rate tax payer, and therefore you may wish for the income received from a rental property to be apportioned in a tax efficient manner.  It is important to note that entering into a Declaration of Trust for Income Tax purposes will need to be reported to the HMRC.

It is also possible to prepare a Declaration of Trust in a property that you own in your sole name and this may be required, for example, where a family member has financially assisted you with the purchase of your property and you would like to ensure they receive their funds back when the property is later sold.  By preparing a Declaration of Trust, this party is therefore entitled to a beneficial interest in the property despite not being on the legal title itself.  

It is recommended that for all properties where a Declaration of Trust is created, but particularly those created for properties owned by a sole proprietor, that a restriction is entered onto the title at the Land Registry.

Other Considerations

It is important to consider that when creating a Declaration of Trust, one party is sometimes gifting their interest in the property to another.  They should therefore be aware of the risk that they are reducing their assets and may no longer be entitled to as much of the property as they were before, and therefore this may have an implication on unfortunate future events, such as divorce etc.  

It is also often necessary to seek tax advice from an Accountant in relation to any tax implications the Declaration of Trust may impose on each party.

If you would like more information on Declarations of Trust, or to book an appointment for a free initial consultation with one of our solicitors to discuss these deeds further, then please do not hesitate to contact Jade Gani (jgani@astonbond.co.uk), Rachel Jones (rjones@astonbond.co.uk) or Mamta Rajanwal (mrajanwal@astonbond.co.uk).

Making a Will is often considered a particularly daunting task for many of us; however having sight impairment can make this even more so.   A Will is one of the most important documents that you may make in your lifetime, and therefore not being able to see the document you are signing clearly, or at all, can cause anxiety.   However with a few amendments to the process, making a Will can be a simple and stress-free process for all.  Below we will discuss some areas that can be adapted during the Will writing process, to ensure an inclusive and comfortable service is available for all clients. 

Formatting the Will

For any documents sent to clients with vision loss, altering the formatting appropriately to suit each client’s needs can radically help to improve their comfort and their ability to read the documents clearly.

Below are some general tips on formatting documents:-

• Always check with your client if they would like the font to be a larger size, as most clients will have a preferred font size.  You should never just assume a larger font size will be required; as the client may already have assistance (such as a magnifying glass) meaning the larger font may actually encumber rather than assist them.
• Be aware that visually impaired clients may have difficulty distinguishing between the numbers 3, 5, 8 and 0 (three, five, eight, and zero) and it is best practice for all numbers to be spelt out so that they can be read clearly.
• Avoid stylised fonts, underlining, italics and large blocks of capital letters as these can be harder to read.  
• Increase the line spacing where possible to help separate the text and make it easier to read, and try to avoid long paragraphs.
• Coloured or glossy paper should be avoided, and photocopies should be clear on matt bleedproof paper.  Where possible documents should be printed one sided, so that there is no confusion from words coming through on the opposite side.  Some clients may experience visual perceptual distortions and so it is best practice to ask if they have a particular type of paper that assists them. 

Alternative Formats

Although a Will in braille is not a valid legal document as it can be easily altered, providing a copy of the Will in braille allows the client to read through the copy independently to confirm that they are happy with the original.  Similarly an audio copy of the Will could be a useful alternative format to provide to the client, so that they can listen to the Will being read out at their own speed and as many times as they require.

The charity, Royal National Institute of Blind People, are able to assist in converting documents to braille and audio.  To find out more please contact their transcription service on Business.Mailbox@rnib.org.uk.

Signing the Will

It is very important that your client is able to confirm they are happy with the contents of the Will before they sign the document.  Therefore if the client is unable read the Will (including where they have approved the copy Will in braille), it should be read to the client out loud by one of the witnesses at a clear and steady pace.  The Will can then be signed by the witness on the testator’s behalf which will need to be stated in the attestation clause accordingly, alongside a statement that the Will has been signed ‘after this document has been read over by [name of witness] to the Testator (who is blind) when the Testator seemed thoroughly to understand and approve the contents’. 

At Aston Bond we like to make sure that creating a Will is accessible for all by adapting the above practices into our services, to ensure that those with sight impairment are comfortable and understand the process from start to finish.  If you, or someone you know, are hesitant to make your Will due to sight impairment then please know that we are here to help and do not hesitate to contact us on 01753 486777.