Personal injury trusts and how I will help you

Personal injury trusts – how I can help

My aim is to help you decide if a personal injury trust is right for you. I deal with most clients by telephone, email and letter and a meeting is rarely necessary. I will:

  • Help you decide if a trust for your compensation is right for you.
  • Agree a fixed fee so you know the cost – £480 including VAT – correct at March 2023.
  • Gather information and documents.
  • Prepare a trust deed.
  • Guide you through signature and witnessing of the deed.
  • Guide trustees to open a bank or building society account.
  • Give notice to the agencies handling your benefits claim.
  • Explain how the trust should operate.

You really have helped us as we had absolutely no idea what we had to do and you have not only made it easy but removed a very very large amount of worry and made us feel better and that things have been dealt with correctly.

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How to set up a personal injury trust

Setting up a personal injury trust does not have to be complicated or expensive. I offer a fixed fee in most cases of £480 including VAT.

A personal injury trust is a trust which holds personal injury compensation. Benefit regulations allow personal injury compensation to be ignored, provided the compensation is held separate from your personal funds in a trust. A personal trust is perfectly legitimate.

I have set out all the points you must think about and the information I will need to help you.

The answer to the needs of compensated people in receipt of benefits or care is a bare trust to hold personal injury compensation. This is the simplest form of trust. It is easy to manage, has no tax complications and allows the compensated person to retain a level of control. Provided you follow a few simple rules, you can use the trust fund with freedom.

Personal injury trust Mark Thompson Law Continue reading “How to set up a personal injury trust”

A personal injury trust is a positive thing

A personal injury trust is a positive way to keep and use your compensation and benefits

A personal injury trust is a positive thing, not a problem.

A trust is created by a legal document, called a trust deed. Trustees are appointed and hold the trust fund separate from your personal money. The trust is an arrangement to allow trustees to hold and use your money for your benefit. Benefit regulations allow you to keep receiving means tested benefits and hold and use your compensation. What’s not to like?

Use your benefits for the basic expenses, then use your compensation direct from the trust as you wish. All you have to do is keep the compensation in the trust separate from your own money. In return for keeping your benefits, which seems fair enough.

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I may need a personal injury trust

Do I need a personal injury trust to protect my compensation and benefits

A personal injury trust is the only legitimate way to hold and use compensation and still receive means tested benefits. Such a trust is an opportunity to keep and use your compensation and receive means tested benefits.

The personal injury trust means your compensation will be ignored if you or others in your close family either claim, or need to claim, means tested benefits. The same applies if you require local authority care.

It is the benefit regulations themselves which allow a payment in consequence of an injury to be disregarded, or ignored. A sensible and generous law.

I continue to be surprised by the advice given to people receiving accident compensation about personal injury trusts. The advice presents a personal injury trust as an optional extra. A personal injury trust is vital in many cases and advisable in others.

Image shows trust deed for personal injury trust to protect means tested state benefits

Continue reading “I may need a personal injury trust”

Personal injury trust

Keep compensation and benefits with a personal injury trust.

Personal injury trust – special needs trust – compensation protection trust . All names used for a trust to protect personal injury compensation.

A trust will mean personal injury compensation is ignored when your finances are assessed for benefits and care. Here we help you understand protection of compensation with a trust.

When you receive compensation for a personal injury it can take you above the financial limits for means–tested State benefits, and affect your entitlement to local authority support for care. So be aware and look at the benefits you are receiving today, and just as important the benefits you may need in the future. Don’t just look at yourself as benefits are claimed by a family unit.Image shows personal injury trust deed to protect means tested benefits

It is worth repeating that you must also look at your care needs, both now and in the future, as a personal injury trust can protect compensation when local authority care is assessed.

A short-term decision may cost you dear.

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Personal injury trust fund to protect means tested benefits

Do I need a personal injury trust fund?

Will I lose my benefits when personal injury compensation is received? This question is asked by people settling personal injury compensation claims, worried they may lose their means tested benefits.

You will be relieved to know you can legitimately keep your benefits and the compensation. This is allowed by the benefit regulations themselves. What you must do is set up a trust to hold the compensation and keep it separate from your personal funds.

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I have received personal injury compensation and claim means-tested benefits

Do I need a personal injury trust?

Receiving means-tested benefits depends on the money held by you and those included in your claim. The usual barrier to a claim is holding £16,000, but if you hold more than £6,000, your benefits will be reduced.

When you receive a sum of money you must inform your benefits agency, which will decide if your entitlement to benefits should change. If you have received personal injury compensation, are there options?

Continue reading “I have received personal injury compensation and claim means-tested benefits”

52 weeks to create a personal injury trust?

Is there a time limit of 52 weeks for setting up a personal injury trust?

There is no time limit within which a trust to protect compensation must be set up.

The best approach is to set up a trust to protect your compensation as soon as you receive the compensation. Continue reading “52 weeks to create a personal injury trust?”

Which bank account is best for a personal injury trust

To create a trust for personal injury compensation you first need a trust deed. This is a legal document which creates the trust and appoints your trustees.

Once your trust document is complete the next step is for the trustees to open a separate bank or building society account to hold your personal injury trust fund. Your trust is created by a deed and the trustees then open a joint current account.

You cannot create a trust just by opening a separate bank account, you need to first create the trust with a deed. People sometimes turn up at a bank with a compensation cheque, but without a deed, and this is why confusion is caused. I suggest you waste no time on banks before the trust deed is complete.

There are a small number of banks which will open a joint account for trustees. I will recommend banks to clients on the basis of recent client experience. The trust account should require at least two signatures for a financial transaction.Bank or building society account wanted for personal injury trust Continue reading “Which bank account is best for a personal injury trust”

Compensation protection trust

Compensation protection trust

Compensation protection trust is one of the names given to a trust designed to ensure that personal injury compensation is not taken into account if you claim means-tested benefits or need local authority support for residential care.

The term compensation trust is just a name given to this type of trust, others being personal injury trust and special needs trust. A special needs trust is something quite different but I include it here as it is often thought to be a trust for protecting compensation. Continue reading “Compensation protection trust”

If I do not claim benefits do I need a personal injury trust?

I remember a call from a lady who had just received a cheque for £20,000 compensation from a personal injury claim. Neither she nor anyone in her family were claiming means-tested benefits; but she intended to save the money for the future. Her compensation solicitors advised a personal injury trust was not necessary. Were they right or wrong?

Wrong is the answer, I am afraid.Personal injury or compensation protection trust necessary to plan ahead

The advice was wrong because the circumstances of the family were only looked at over the short term. Continue reading “If I do not claim benefits do I need a personal injury trust?”

Personal injury trust for Northern Ireland

Personal injury trust for those with personal injury compensation in Northern Ireland

Those living in Northern Ireland can set up a trust for personal injury compensation. I can prepare the trust for you. All information on this website applies to those in Northern Ireland and to the UK generally.

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Personal injury trusts and the cost of long term care

A personal injury trust can be a very good idea even if you are not receiving State means-tested benefits or local authority care. You must consider your situation today,  your situation in the future, and do exactly the same for those you claim benefits with.

A local authority must provide accommodation for vulnerable adults who fall outside the responsibility of the National Health Service. But the local authority can charge for the service if a person’s capital is between £14,250 and the upper capital limit which currently is £23,250.

If you need care and have received compensation for a personal injury, that compensation can be ignored in this capital assessment if it is protected by a personal injury trust. Setting up a personal injury trust is an obvious step if you are already receiving care. A trust can be just as necessary if you do not require care today, but may need it in the future. Continue reading “Personal injury trusts and the cost of long term care”

Personal injury trusts and working tax credits

When you apply for most state benefits,  a means tests will look at your capital and income. Working tax credits is not a means-tested benefit. It is an adjustment to your earnings based on your income alone.

It is only income from savings which affect tax credits, not the savings themselves.  You can find a helpful explanation about tax credits and capital and savings.

So what protection is provided by a personal injury trust?

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What are the pros and cons of a personal injury trust

To help you make your decision, I have set out the pros and cons of setting up a personal injury trust. For this comparison I will deal only with a bare trust.

Pros:

  • Compensation ignored when assessing your entitlement to means-tested benefits.
  • Compensation ignored when assessing your entitlement to local authority funded care.
  • Compensated person can retain a level of control.
  • Compensation can be spent from the trust with few restrictions.

Cons:

  • Compensated person must not have personal access to trust fund.
  • Trust must have a separate bank or building society account.
  • The trust must have at least two trustees.
  • Trust bank account requires signature or approval of at least two trustees.
  • There is a cost in setting up the trust (not as much as you think).

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Protect Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments with a trust

Compensation received under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme can reduce or stop entitlement to means-tested benefits. The answer is to set up a trust for what is personal injury compensation. Continue reading “Protect Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments with a trust”

Which payments can be protected by a personal injury trust?

A personal injury trust can protect most payments made in consequence of a personal injury

The regulations which govern entitlement to means-tested benefits tell us what sums are taken into account and which are ignored. Among those ignored are “any payment made to the claimant or the claimant’s partner in consequence of any personal injury to the claimant or, as the case may be, the claimant’s partner.”

The injury can be physical, psychological or psychiatric and need not be caused by a single physical incident. Continue reading “Which payments can be protected by a personal injury trust?”

Who must I tell about my personal injury trust?

If you receive compensation for personal injury, you must inform the agencies handling your claim for means-tested benefits. It is the change in your financial circumstances which makes notice necessary.

If I prepare a trust for you, I will inform the benefit agencies you have received personal injury compensation and I have set up a trust for that compensation. Continue reading “Who must I tell about my personal injury trust?”

Why aren’t there more personal injury trusts?

You can see from the questions I am asked there is a shortage of clear advice about compensation protection trusts, or personal injury trusts as they are better known. The banks and building societies often lack experience of opening accounts for trustees. This tells me that trusts are not being used where they are necessary. Continue reading “Why aren’t there more personal injury trusts?”

A message for solicitors on personal injury trusts

Mark Thompson explains how to properly protect a claimant’s compensation

Your client is currently in receipt of means-tested benefits and is to receive an interim payment of £5,000. What should you advise?

Some might say that £5,000 is below the £6,000 allowed by most means-tested benefit tests, so protecting benefit receipt with a trust is not necessary. If this was your answer, please read on. Continue reading “A message for solicitors on personal injury trusts”

How to set up and operate a trust bank account

Personal injury trust bank account use

This page is to help you set up and operate a joint current bank account for the trustees of a personal injury trust. It is along similar lines to the information provided to clients of Mark Thompson Law for the creation of a trust for personal injury compensation. If your trust has not been drawn up by this practice, do not assume all of the information applies to you.

This page will answer most questions and help you and your trustees to set up and operate your trust.

Continue reading “How to set up and operate a trust bank account”