Our Expertise

We can advise you on a broad range of matters regarding mental capacity, property and financial affairs, health and welfare, and the Court of Protection.

With advances in medicine and technology, individuals are living longer and mental health is a growing concern be it for ourselves, our family or our friends. Appointing someone to ensure your finances will be properly looked in case you lose capacity is of vital importance.

We are able to assist with all matters relating to mental capacity and in particular:

• Advice on Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), which declare who a person’s appointed attorneys shall be if they no longer have capacity to administer their own financial affairs or make decisions regarding their health and welfare
• Assistance with the administration of personal injury trusts and acting as trustee to support individuals who have suffered significant personal injuries and require assistance with the management of their finances
• Acting for individuals where they have lost capacity and an application to the Court of Protection is required to administer their affairs
• In circumstances where no provision has been made for a loss of capacity, we are able to assist with applications to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed. We assist lay persons to be appointed and often appoint our firm’s trust corporation (New Quadrant Trust Corporation Limited) to be appointed as a joint deputy. This provides our clients with the freedom and security to administer their loved one’s affairs with the support and knowledge that they have a professional deputy alongside them to rely on.

Specialist advice includes:

Litigation Support Statements
We prepare litigation support statements to assist other professionals with challenging financial issues in complex Court of Protection and personal injury litigation. Our team can work alongside you to prepare conclusive statements to assist with the calculation for claiming or challenging an individual’s ongoing financial needs.
As a result of our extensive experience of Court of Protection and personal injury matters, we can accurately estimate the ongoing needs of incapacitated and injured individuals. This helps them obtain the support they need to deal with the obstacles they face in dealing with their change in circumstances. applications to execute statutory Wills, litigation friend proceedings, and litigation support statements.

Personal Injury Trusts

We can advise on how to structure and administer a personal injury trust to suit your circumstances.

Our trust corporation can also be appointed as a professional trustee to help you administer your funds.

We can assist and advise on:

• The preparation and creation of personal injury trusts to protect an injured person’s benefit entitlement after receipt of a personal injury award
• Managing funds once the personal injury trust has been created
• Providing ongoing support for the injured individual and ensuring the trust provides sufficient financial support for their ongoing needs
• Restoring the status-quo of an injured individual’s lifestyle after the injury and providing assistance with changes in personal circumstances throughout the individual’s life

Litigation Friend in Court of Protection Proceedings

We can act as litigation friend in Court of Protection proceedings. Or, if you have been appointed as litigation friend, we can help advise you on your role.
No one knows the wishes of a protected party better than that individual’s family. We can provide you with the necessary legal guidance and support to act as litigation friend through complex Court of Protection proceedings.
We can also act independently as a protected party’s litigation friend and act in the best interests of an individual’s needs. We understand that everyone’s circumstances are different and we take on board the emotional circumstances of the protected person and their family when engaged in Court of Protection proceedings, as well as the financial elements.

• Court of Protection Applications

We have extensive experience of applications to the Court of Protection regarding deputyship appointments, statutory Will and codicil applications, and gift applications.

We can help and advise on:

• Applications to appoint a deputy for financial affairs
• Applications to appoint a deputy for health and welfare
• Application to obtain authorisation to execute a statutory Will or codicil
• Applications to obtain authorisation to make lifetime planning arrangements including gifts to mitigate any Inheritance Tax liability
• Applications to obtain authorisation to approve or terminate a trust

Our firm’s trust corporation, New Quadrant Trust Corporation Limited, can act alone or as joint deputy to help assist with the administration of a loved one’s affairs if you need support or are not able to deal with matters alone.

• Deputyships – Lay Deputies

Dealing with the administration of a loved one’s finances can be time-consuming. We can help alleviate this burden and support you through an application to the Court of Protection.

We can also assist with the day-to-day running of a protected party’s financial affairs. We understand that the needs of the protected party must always be considered, but no one knows their wishes better than their family. We would work alongside you to make the right decisions for your loved one and your family.

Our extensive experience of deputyship administration means that we can efficiently organise the necessary care and financial arrangements for an individual to ensure that the costs of their care are mitigated and their asset potential is maximised.

Deputyships – Our Trust Corporation

As well as assisting with applications for lay deputies, our trust corporation, New Quadrant Trust Corporation Limited, can act as a professional deputy alone or together with a lay person to administer a protected party’s financial affairs.

The benefit of a trust corporation compared to other professional appointments is that any one of the trust corporation’s directors can execute and undertake actions on the property party’s behalf. This means that their financial affairs are managed efficiently in order to provide the individual with as comfortable a standard of living as possible. This helps to reduce the stress placed on the protected party’s family.

Caring for a loved one can be tiring and stressful. Having a professional deputy means that the worries associated with the financial affairs of the protected party can be placed to one side, safe in the knowledge they are being handled with diligence and care.

We also understand that no one knows the wishes of a protected party better than that individual’s family. We can provide you with the necessary legal guidance and support to act as a joint deputy with our trust corporation to administer your loved one’s affairs.

Our extensive experience of deputyship administration means that we can organise the necessary care and financial arrangements for an individual, and ensure that the costs of their care are mitigated and their asset potential is maximised.

Powers of Attorney

Mental health is a growing concern for us all and it is important to determine who you want to administer your financial affairs in the event that you lose capacity.

We regularly advise on and prepare Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs). LPAs set out who a person’s attorneys shall be if they no longer have capacity to administer their own financial affairs or make decisions regarding their health and welfare.

We can help and advise on:

• The preparation and registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney for both property and financial affairs, and health and welfare
• The guidance and restrictions you may wish to place on your attorneys when dealing with your financial affairs
• The consequences of decisions regarding your health and welfare including important end of life decisions
• The powers your attorneys will have once appointed
• What to do if you have assets or family members in other countries
• Conflicts arising out of disagreements between family members regarding your power of attorney
• The registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian

If you wish to speak to a member of our team and discuss how we can be of further assistance to you, please contact Robert Smeath , Partner, or Vanessa Kemp, Partner.