nellie Report post Posted April 24, 2004 (edited) Wills and Trusts - leaving money by will to people with a learning disability. Bit of a morbid subject, but something we all have to think about. You can secure the future of a loved one and give yourself piece of mind by keeping an up-to-date Will and planning the best way to leave money to a person with a learning disability. Having a will means you can appoint a trustee to look after any money that may be left to a person with a learning disability and you can appoint guardians if beneficiaries are under 18. If you don't consider their needs properly in your Will, money may be paid directly to them and so may affect any benefits and housing they may receive. Mencap provide a free booklet explaining the options and they can also supply a list of specialist solicitors in your area who have the knowledge and experiene to help you make the necessary provision. For a booklet/list of solicitors call 020 7696 6996 http://www.mencap.org.uk/html/legacies/index.asp Nellie. Edited October 9, 2006 by nellie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted May 18, 2004 Hi, Does anyone know details of the provisions that can be made in a Will to help safeguard the future for Special Needs children? Many years ago a local support group had a solicitor come and give advice on this. Unfortunately I can't remember the details! Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted May 18, 2004 Thanks! You are brilliant, Nellie I have sent for the booklet. Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jester Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Hi all Anyone know if you can get Legal Aid for any of this? Our "Wills" people quoted �500. ...which we can't afford. Jester Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted May 31, 2004 Jester, �500 It's a bit steep, isn't it? Jester you should give up teaching and try soliciting?!! Don't think I'm qualified!! I've had a look through the Mencap Wills and Trusts book and can't find anything that would help you. I can only suggest asking the NAS or Citizen Advice Bureau for information. Hopefully someone can come up with a magic formula. I would be interested, as I need to update our will, I keep putting it off. Nellie. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mbrown Report post Posted June 1, 2004 Hello all, My wife has just completed such a will. In it we have named two aunts as trustees for our son should we both die before he is 18. any competent solicitor would be able to word it so that the childs interests are best taken care of. I do not have time at present to detail how it is written but will try later to put up something. As for price. �500 ?? shop around! As well as the will we had some house problems that had to be dealt with and the total bill was �572. I would have thought that the 'Will' portion of the bill should not have been more than half of that. BFN Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted June 1, 2004 Hi Mike, We are looking at a Discretionary Trust (I think...have got to find time to go through booklet thoroughly!), because we will need to make provision for far longer than 18, maybe very long-term. Thanks anyway! Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted August 10, 2005 Hi bid - yes, it's a discretionary trust you need... Money is left in trust to support the named person(s) at the discretion of the appointed trustees... Their discretion would include things like personal items the named person may want/need (Electrical equip, monet towards holidays etc) but would NOT extend to payments for things that would otherwise be covered by benefits/local auth, 'top ups' (for residential care) and so on... Once the trust is set up, the actual will part is no more than a paragraph commiting certain monies/properties toward the trust... It should add no more than about �50.00 max to the cost of a 'standard' will. The only additional cost might be if you instruct the solicitor to act as a trustee, but any charges for that would be taken from the trust, at the time that it is administrated... Obviously it CAN be more complex, depending on circumstance, but if its as clear cut as your post suggests, I'd be taking a serious look at my 'Will Peoples' costings in your shoes... You wouldn't stand a cat in hells chance of getting legal aid, 'cos that would be seen as a 'benefit payment', and any attempt to save benefit payments would be seen as benefit fraud (based on the theory that any payment made for provision NOW must be used to buy provision NOW... If (the named party) can afford to save it, he doesn't need it... I think the ceiling for 'allowed' savings is �3000. Of course, any money paid into the trust by people not dependent on benefits is fine and dandy, providing that any tax it accrues is paid. For anyone with a fair amount to put away (i think it's around 20K, but the mencap pack will have up to date info in it), Mencap will actually administer the whole thing for a very reasonable admin fee. Anyone dependent on benefits who would like to leave some sort of trust are absolutely bu****ed, but they could be named as a trustee by another (non-dependent) family member who was generous enough to set one up... Hope thats helpful L&P BD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
admum Report post Posted August 11, 2005 Wilaid week comes up latr this year - you make a donation and solicitor draws up will. Discretionary trust should be quite cheap. Log onto law soc website to find local solicitor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted August 16, 2005 For anyone interested in wills and trusts the National Autistic Society (Surrey Branch) have a recording of a talk given by a solicitor about Wills and Trusts and other legal options for securing the future for a disabled dependant. http://www.mugsy.org/davidkingham.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
