Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors specialise in pursuing compensation claims arising as a result of accidents and hospital errors. These actions are known as Personal Injury (PI) claims.
A Trust is a formal legal relationship where assets are put under the control of at least two persons (the Trustees) for the benefit of another (the Beneficiary).
Personal Injury Trusts and acting for clients on means tested benefits
Funds held in a PI trust are disregarded capital for the purposes of means tested benefits. Therefore it is very important to advise clients on setting up a PI trust if the client is claiming means tested benefits or may ever claim benefits or require local authority funded care in the future.
A PI Trust may also be useful for other reasons such as:
If your client is a child and the damages award is substantial, the court will often only approve the settlement if one of the trustees is a professional.
A personal injury trust is sometimes referred to as a compensation protection trust and is a trust set up using funds received as compensation for a PI claim. Personal injury includes accidental and criminal injuries and clinical negligence and industrial disease related injuries. The injury can be physical or mental. PI trusts can be set up irrespective of the size of the payment made or where the injury occurred.
A PI trust cannot be set up where the injuries were fatal. Relatives of the injured person can claim compensation for bereavement and loss of financial support but the compensation cannot be placed in a PI trust if the clients have not sustained any direct injury themselves.
We have specialists in finance deputyship work for over 10 years acting as professional deputy and trustees for a wide range of clients
Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors acted for a young woman who was injured in a road accident and was awarded compensation of £75,000 for her injuries. The client is only able to work part time and receives Housing Benefit. This benefit is only paid to people who have less than £16,000 in capital. Our specialist solicitors set up a PI trust for the client so that she could continue to claim Housing Benefit after receiving her compensation.
To set up the Trust you will need a minimum of two people to act as your Trustees. The Trustees must be over the age of 18 years, of sound mind, of good character and have no current or past problems with money. If you are unable to secure another person to act as a Trustee or wish to have a professional Trustee, the partners of Hodge Jones & Allen have experience of acting as Trustees and would be happy to be appointed Trustees.
You will then need to contact our Private Client Team for us to take details from you and draft a Trust Deed which will need to be signed by you and your chosen Trustees.
After the Trust Deed has been signed the Trustees need to open up a bank or building society account in the name of the Trust or Trustees and your compensation award would be paid into this Trust account. We would also inform the Benefits Agency of the existence of the Trust.
We offer a very personal and sympathetic service – we are a small team and we value our relationships with clients highly. We have a dedicated team specialising in deputyship and trusts for people who have recovered substantial damages awards.
We provide an efficient service, always responding promptly. We are well established and respected team who have many years’ experience of acting as deputy. Our court of Protection team has specialist experience of finance deputyship work combined with knowledge of PI litigation.
We are highly experienced in this specialist area and offer high quality advice and pragmatic and cost effective solutions to difficult problems. We have specialists in finance deputyship work for over 10 years acting as professional deputy and trustees for a wide range of clients.
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