Elderly and Vulnerable Client Services

Coodes Solicitors / Personal Legal / Elderly and Vulnerable Client Services

Elderly and Vulnerable Client Services

Coodes has a dedicated professional team of lawyers who specialise in meeting the needs of the older individuals, their families and carers.

The legal issues which affect older people and their families and carers are becoming more and more complex, so choosing the right solicitor to help you plan for the future is critical. Several of our lawyers are members of Solicitors for the Elderly, an organisation that helps connect people with solicitors who provide high quality advice about lifetime planning, later life matters, and issues that uniquely affect older people.

With offices in Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Falmouth, Penzance, Holsworthy, Launceston and Liskeard, we are conveniently located and easily accessible for people across Cornwall and West Devon.

How our elderly client solicitors can help

Our friendly and approachable team can advise on all issues affecting the elderly, and provide clients with clear and reliable advice in an empathic and professional way. We will take into account any difficulties both mental and physical, that can affect you as you grow older.

From a simple case of assisting an older client moving into a smaller property, to arranging a Power of Attorney for someone to take over responsibility for the affairs of a loved one, we have the expertise to guide you along the best course of action.

Get in touch to see how we can help

If you or a loved one need assistance, contact us and we can assess your circumstances and let you know how we can help.

Give us a call on 0800 328 3282 or fill in our simple online enquiry form and a member of our team will be in touch with you shortly.

Why choose our elderly client solicitors?

Our team is recognised as one of the leading Wills and Probate teams in the country by prestigious client guide, Chambers and Partners, with particular recognition for our Will writing, Probate, Court of Protection, Trusts and tax planning expertise.

Among our talented team, Sarah Cornish, Louise Southwell, Clare McLeish and Alan Gates are all fully accredited members of Solicitors for the Elderly. Louise is the secretary of the Older Peoples Forum and a co-opted Trustee of Age Concern. She has substantial experience supporting bereaved and vulnerable individuals and their families.

Several of our team are also trained Dementia Friends and Dementia Champions with particular expertise supporting and providing advice to people affected by dementia and their loved ones.

Many of our team are members of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), an organisation for industry specialists in family inheritance and succession planning matters, and the Private Client Section of the Law Society.

We have a number of other accreditations and professionals memberships that could be relevant to you depending on your personal circumstances, including the Equity Release Council, the Agricultural Law Association and the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate (ACTAPS).

For more information about our qualifications and professional memberships, please visit our Accreditations page.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone you trust to make decisions for you in the event (for example, due to illness or injury) that you are not able to make those decisions for yourself. The people appointed under the LPA are called ‘Attorneys’.

There are two types of LPA:

Property and Financial Affairs

This allows the person or people you select to look after your finances. This can include:

Paying your bills
Managing your investments
Selling your home
Collecting benefits

Health and Welfare

Your Attorney(s) will be able to make decisions about:

Your daily routine
Medical care (including life-sustaining treatment)
When and if you should move into a care home

For further information, please visit our dedicated Lasting Powers of Attorney page.

If your loved one already struggles to make their own decisions – for example, due to a brain injury or illness such as Alzheimer’s – they may not be able to make an LPA. Instead, we can provide advice about making an application to the Court of Protection to become a Deputy. We have a specialist Court of Protection team who are dedicated to this area of work.

We also have experience in advising on and drafting Advance Decisions (otherwise known as ‘Living Wills’) which set out your wishes regarding medical treatment in the event that you are not able to express those wishes yourself.

Court of Protection applications

If someone has lost the mental capacity to make their own decisions, we have a dedicated team who can help you provide them with the support they need. The Court of Protection exists specifically to help people who cannot make their own decisions, for example, due to:

An illness such as Alzheimer’s
A condition such as stroke
A brain injury
A severe learning difficulty

We can provide advice about making Court of Protection applications, including:

Deputyship applications – for authorisation to make decisions about a person’s finances and/or welfare
Statutory Will applications – to make or update a Will on behalf of someone who is not able to do it themselves
Emergency and urgent applications – to obtain authorisation to make a decision for someone who cannot consent to emergency medical treatment or to make an urgent decision for someone (such as to pay for care fees)
Deprivation of liberty challenges – to challenge and overturn a care provider’s decision to restrict a person’s activities and movement

Our Court of Protection team leader, Richard Pollock is appointed to the Court of Protection’s Deputyship Panel. We have many years of experience managing the financial affairs of vulnerable individuals. We take our role very seriously and always aim to act in their best interests.

For further information, please visit our Court of Protection page.

We also often work closely with our dedicated Mental Health and Community Care team to provide tailored advice on all matters relating to mental health and mental capacity.

Wills

There are many reasons why making a Will should be a top priority when thinking about the future, such as:

It is the best way to ensure that your money and property goes to the right people after you pass away
It is the only way to provide for certain people, such as unmarried partners and step children
You can appoint who you want to deal with your Estate after you die
You can minimise your Estate’s liability for Inheritance Tax, allowing your loved ones to inherit as much as possible
You can set aside money for children and vulnerable loved ones
You can leave money to charity
You can decide who you want to take care of your pets

Knowing that you have a valid Will in place can give you peace of mind that your loved ones will be provided for.

We can talk you through all your available options, and help you decide how best to structure your Will to reflect your wishes. For further information, visit our Making a Will page.

Advance Directives/Living Wills

Advance Directives, also known as Living Wills or Advance Decisions, are legal documents that set out a person’s wishes to refuse medical treatment in the event that they lack the capacity to express their wishes when the time comes (for example, because you have an illness such as Alzheimer’s or you are suffering from a brain injury).

No one knows where the future will take them. Preparing for the worst now could save your loved ones the emotional pain of having to make difficult decisions on your behalf.

We can advise on the content and implications of your Living Will, ensuring that your wishes about medical treatment are made clear in the event that you are unable to state those wishes yourself. The document can cover everything from the types of treatment you want to refuse, the circumstances in which you want to refuse treatment, and whether you want to refuse life-sustaining treatment.

Most people choose to put in place a Health and Welfare LPA which may provide more flexibility.

Equity release

Our specialist team of residential conveyancing solicitors can provide advice on equity release and handle all the legal aspects of the transaction on your behalf. Equity release can be a great option if you need to release money from your home but you do not want to sell and downsize. Whether you want the money to pay for care, top up your pension, or travel the world, you will be safe in our hands.

We are the only firm in Cornwall to be a member of the Equity Release Council, so you can trust that we can provide the highest quality of advice to you. We are also members of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation for our award-winning conveyancing service.

For more information, please visit our Equity Release page.

Will and inheritance disputes

Our Dispute Resolution team has extensive legal expertise in the often complex law surrounding Will and inheritance disputes, often referred to as contentious Probate.

Many people still do not make a Will and very often die intestate. This means that the Crown decides how the deceased person’s Estate should be split. This can lead to significant litigation if family members disagree about what the deceased wanted or what is fair. Wills are being contested more than ever before as family dynamics change and it is increasingly common for couples to break up, remarry and/or have children with different partners.

Our dispute resolution and litigation solicitors work closely with the Wills and Probate team. We can assist and advise you in relation to all types of Will and inheritance disputes. Many of our team are members of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS). We have an in depth understanding of the stress these disputes can cause. We aim to make the process as straightforward as possible. Together, we can work towards a successful outcome.

For more information, please visit our Will and Inheritance Disputes page.

Trusts and tax planning

We know that ensuring your loved ones are well provided for is likely to be one of your biggest incentives for planning for the future. Our dedicated team of Trusts solicitors can talk you through the different types of Trust and help you decide how best to structure your Estate and pass on wealth in a tax-efficient way.

We can help you by setting up Trusts and providing the relevant Inheritance Tax (IHT), Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Income Tax advice.

For more information, please visit our Trusts and Tax Planning page.

We can also provide advice to Trustees on managing and administering Trusts. For more information, please visit our Trust Administration page.

Elder abuse

Elder abuse has sadly increased over the past few years. As people live longer and require more care, it has become easy for many vulnerable older people to be taken advantage of by their friends, relatives, neighbours, and care providers. Sometimes it is even people legally authorised to make financial decisions for the older person who are responsible, such as Court of Protection Deputies or Attorneys under Lasting Powers of Attorney.

If you are concerned that an older person is being abused, we are here to help you protect them and provide the practical, loving support they need. We take elder abuse extremely seriously. Our expertise includes:

Applying to remove Deputies and Attorneys
Court of Protection applications, such as:
- Deputyship applications
- Statutory Will applications
- Deprivation of liberty challenges
Advice to elderly people about making a Will and a Lasting Power of Attorney

For more information, please visit our Elder Abuse page.

Probate and Estate Administration

Our team of Probate lawyers specialise in administering the Estates of people who have died. We have a broad range of expertise; as well as straightforward Estates, we also regularly handle niche areas, including:

Agricultural, rural and landed Estates
The Estates of business owners
The Estates of non-UK residents and international property
Estates involving international property

Estate Administration is the process of dealing with an individual’s assets after death and usually involves:

Applying for a Grant of Probate (where there is a Will) or a Grant of Letters of Administration (where there is no Will)
Preparing HM Revenue & Customs’ Inheritance Tax account paperwork
Negotiating with HMRC regarding the amount of Inheritance Tax payable
Transferring or encashing the assets in the Estate
Settling the Income Tax position
Paying outstanding liabilities
Drafting Estate accounts and making the final distributions

You can ask us to deal with the entire administration of the Estate on your behalf or in relation to one or more of the above. We are here to provide as much or as little support as you need.

For more information, please visit our Probate and Estate Administration page.

Elderly and Vulnerable Client Services

Personal Legal

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