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Older and Vulnerable Client Care

We pride ourselves on giving all our clients the warmest of welcomes, regardless of age or vulnerability.  As specialists in older client care, we recognise how important it is to treat our older clients, their families and their representatives with dignity, kindness and respect, at all times.

Our Wills, Probate and Mental Capacity team is led by Jenny Pierce, who is a trustee for BRACE Dementia Research and a director of Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE), the national association of specialist lawyers set up to support and make a difference to older and vulnerable people.

In fact, most of the 23-strong team are SFE members, which means that as well as being experts in the law, they all have an informed understanding of the mental and physical difficulties which can affect older people as well as the health and social problems they may be facing.

Many of our lawyers are also fully accredited members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) with specialist qualifications in advising elderly clients.

What services do we offer?

We are highly experienced in providing a wealth of specialist guidance to older and vulnerable people, their families and carers, including:

  • Making or updating your Will
  • Appointing Lasting Power of Attorneys
  • Protecting your finances, personal and health affairs if you lose mental capacity
  • Court of Protection matters
  • Deputyship matters
  • Care funding and protection of your assets
  • Gifting of assets during your lifetime
  • Advanced Decisions (Living Wills)
  • Estate and Inheritance Tax planning

"Thank you to Andrew for all the time, effort and informed common sense you provided. Above everything, it contributed to a significant reduction of panic attacks, hissy fits and throwing in of towels and our prospective buyer shares my relief and gratitude."

“Laura’s knowledge was excellent. She is extremely credible and took time to explain things to us in a patient and clear manner without being patronizing.”

"Clare was friendly and approachable and always returned my calls if she was not available when I phoned her - this made the procedure less stressful at a grief stricken time."

"Alison was very helpful & approachable. She was able to give us useful advice for now and the future. We would be very happy to deal with her again."

"I found Sarah Woodward very understanding and helpful. She made an emotional & difficult task for me, much easier."

How do we make accessing our services stress-free?

We will go out of our way to make meetings as easy as possible for you and can visit you at home or in hospital if necessary.

Appointments are available outside the usual office hours when appropriate; for example if you need to make an emergency Will.

If you want to come to one of our offices, we’ll let you know what disabled parking facilities and access are available and ensure that toilet facilities are readily accessible.

We’ll always make sure we find out from you in advance of any potential capacity or physical limitations such as mobility, hearing or visual impairments so that we can ensure the meeting goes at a pace you are happy with.

We recognise that some clients may prefer to have a trusted friend or relative with them when they meet with a solicitor, and we’ll always try to accommodate this where we can.  At some point throughout the process, we will need an opportunity to see our client alone due to the nature of the advice we may be giving, but we will do our utmost to make sure that the client feels at ease. Asking to see the client alone helps to ensure that they are not being pressured or coerced into making decisions which may not be in their best interest.

Before a meeting, we will ask if there are any potential capacity or physical limitations such as mobility, hearing or visual impairment. These matters are always taken into account when meeting and communicating with older clients, and correspondence and documentation can be produced in large print if necessary.  In all cases, the pace and duration of each meeting is aligned to the needs of the client.

In cases where English is not the first language of our client, we would suggest that an appropriate independent interpreter assist, or a person that our client trusts, who can help them understand what is being discussed.

Where legal terminology has to be used, we take care to ensure that our client understands what has been said and will not proceed until we are satisfied and that our client is comfortable.