Tassells Solicitors will be running, by popular demand, a FREE course in Law for Small Businesses. The course will cover Employment, Leases and Contract Law. The first session will be held in our offices commencing on Wednesday 20th March at 6pm followed by two further sessions on 24th April and 22nd May. We will give you a basic knowledge of these relevant areas and will also have Question and Answer sessions afterwards over a glass of wine! We’ll try and make it fun! Please contact Susan Anderson on 01795 533337 or email me at e-mail: susananderson@tassells-solicitors.co.uk to book your place. Places will be limited and are on a first come first served basis. It will also be an excellent networking opportunity.

Will Aid is the UK’s leading charity will-writing scheme. It offers everyone the opportunity to make or update their Will in return for a donation to help people in need in the UK and all over the world. This money is shared by nine well-known UK charities: ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, NSPCC, Save the Children, Sightsavers, SCIAF (Scotland) and Trocaire (Northern Ireland).

As part of the Will Aid campaign we drew up basic Wills for local people without charging our usual fee. In return for this service, the clients made a donation to Will Aid.

We had a very busy and successful campaign and wrote over 30 Wills for local people, giving their families the security of a properly drafted Will as well as the opportunity to support popular charities.

We really enjoyed meeting many new local clients and would like to thank those who took part and donated so generously in order to make our fundraising efforts such a success.

We are proud that Tassells were involved. The money we have raised will be added to the nationwide total, currently standing at £1.5m, which will be put to work to make a real and lasting difference to vulnerable children, families and older people in the UK and around the world.

The scheme runs again in November and we look forward to meeting more new clients in need of a Will and who would like the added benefit of supporting charities at the same time.

The fact is that public bodies have a great deal of power, usually conferred on them by Acts of Parliament. These powers are not always exercised wisely or fairly but in most cases the only hope of preventing or reversing a bad decision is by making an application to the High Court for a judicial review. Public bodies resent having their plans held up, and cite for example the fact that every time a major scheme involving the development of an airport is announced complex judicial reviews follow which can take years to resolve. Whether or not these cases are worthy of criticism, for every bad example there will be others, which work to the benefit not only of the individuals concerned but also of society. Virgin Rail’s challenge to the award of the West Coast franchise to a competitor was an example of a judicial review which led to the Government acknowledging that their decision making had been hopelessly flawed: the result is no doubt extremely disruptive, but it might lead to a better decision in the future as well as giving Virgin Rail another chance to get what they wanted.

It is right to say that many applications fail, but this is partly because the body being challenged is obliged to explain itself fully and coherently in a way which it may have failed to do before the court process began. The threat of having to explain yourself to a judge is useful reminder of the need to act within the powers given and to make sensible decisions, and court cases can do more for transparency that any departmental policy extolling ‘open government’.

If there really are numerous unmeritorious judicial review applications being pursued, then there are ways of preventing court processes being abused. Many commentators think that one of the problems with judicial review is not that there are too many cases, but there are too few suitably qualified Judges available to filter out the bad ones and give proper attention to those which have merit.

I can only hope that the Minister’s frustration with what he seems to regard as an unnecessary brake on policy initiative does not translate into a successful attack on fundamentally important constitutional principle, which should ensure that public bodies are always held accountable to the rule of law, and there is an accessible means of ensuring this happens.

James Matthews

CQS was created by the Law Society to encourage best practice amongst solicitors firms who carry out residential conveyancing. It is designed to give buyers, sellers and lenders confidence in their dealings with an accredited firm.

Tassells was one of the first firms to obtain CQS accreditation. This involved the rigorous examination of our management structure and an in-depth investigation of our personnel. CQS member firms are required to promise to carry out work to the highest standards and to demonstrate absolute financial and professional integrity. For this reason Banks and Building Societies now look to CQS accreditation when appointing firms to carry out mortgage work on their behalf.

An accredited firm must undertake to maintain the required standard at all times and ensure that all its conveyancing lawyers complete compulsory training. The firm must also submit itself to detailed scrutiny by the Law Society once a year as part of the re-accreditation process. This is the process which has been successfully completed.

Now in its twelve year, the trails feature 53 houses with over 182 artists. Tassells have been part of the trails since 2004 and is proud to be part of the festival. Susan Anderson, a partner at Tassells, comments “We are very excited this year to have internationally renowned Robert Jarvis with us. He will be showing his interactive sound installation “Keybird”, which comprises of a musical keyboard that instead of playing musical notes, has a birdsong on every key. It creates for its users a light-hearted but deep connection with birdsong in general and we are sure it will create a great deal of interest.”

“We also have new works from Elizabeth Higgs and Russian artist, Irina McGahan, remarkable nature inspired jewellery from Siobhan Timoney, stunning photography from Steve White and our own Jane Bowell. Not to mention the atmospheric watercolours from Tassell’s partner, Ian Wessels. It will be a wonderful exhibition and well worth a visit.“

The trails take place in Canterbury, Faversham, Herne Bay and Whitstable. All houses are open on the following weekends during the festival; 13th/14th October, 20th/21st October and 27th/28th October 2012 between 11am – 5pm (unless otherwise stated).

Further information can be found at www.canterburyfestival.co.uk and www.ekoh.org

“If I give things away it won’t count after 7 years”

It seems that many people are confused about the ‘7 year rule’. It is important when trying to reduce liability for Inheritance Tax, but it has nothing to do with care home funding. If you give something away and the local authority can show that you did so in order to make yourself eligible for funding, then you may be treated as still owning the property for funding purposes, and there is no time limit. In some circumstances, the authority may try to recover the property from the person who received it.

“If I give it to my children I’ll be fine”

Some people can afford to make gifts to their children but, if it is something you cannot do without – such as your house, great care is needed. Unfortunately, even children who are motivated by the best intentions are affected by, for example, financial problems or divorce. If the property is legally theirs and your rights have not been protected, it can be sold to pay off (in these examples) creditors or former spouses.

“They are looked after in my will”

Apparently some think that because property is promised to particular people in a will the local authority cannot take it into account when making a funding assessment. This is not true.

“I have heard of a scheme that will solve all my problems”

There are schemes which are being aggressively marketed which promise to provide a solution to all worries about care funding, and tax liability and probate costs for good measure. Unfortunately, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. In our experience, the information provided about these schemes is inadequate and there is a serious lack of transparency.

Real solutions

It is possible to make gifts of property with one of the objectives being to preserve your estate against care home funding liability. There are sometimes other strategies which do not involve gifts. Whatever choices you make, these need to be based on careful consideration of all your circumstances and on specialist advice. We have particular expertise in this area and we would be very pleased to assist you in making your decision and putting it into effect.

Solicitors for the Elderly is an independent, national association whose members have a wealth of experience in this area of the law.
The association aims to improve the knowledge and service provided on a range of legal issues including tax planning, wills, enduring powers of attorney, long-term social and health care and other retirement issues.

Ian’s areas of work include wills, probate, trusts and power of attorney documents, which often involve the elderly and their families.

Ian joined Tassells in 2002 after a successful career in teaching before retraining as a solicitor. He comments: “I enjoy working with the elderly and I find that they treat their problems with great dignity and common sense. Elderly people are often treated poorly by those in authority. I try to be honest and fair in my dealings with the elderly and treat them with the respect that they deserve, but often do not get. Respect also means discussing difficult areas sensitively.

Ian’s membership of the SFE will reinforce Tassells’ reputation for delivering high quality legal advice in this area of law.

e-mail: ianwessels@tassells-solicitors.co.uk

In many cases people with significant health care needs and their families seek an assessment to establish whether the costs of care, either in their home or in residential accommodation, should be funded by the NHS.    Following decisions of the Health Ombudsman some years ago it became possible to apply for a “retrospective” assessment, which could lead to a refund of care costs paid privately, and this could even be sought after the person concerned had died.  

The Department of Health has now announced a time limit within which claims for assessment must be made.    Essentially if you want an assessment relating to a period of care between 1st April 2004 and 31st March 2011 you must seek an assessment not later than 30th September 2012.    If you want an assessment for the period commencing 1st April 2011 the deadline is 31st March 2013.    The responsibility for these assessments is being transferred to a new body, and the indications are that for the future there will be a 12 month period within which applications for retrospective assessments must be made.   Given the attitude to Continuing Care Funding often displayed by the authorities, I think we can assume that these deadlines will be applied strictly.    Anyone considering challenging a funding decision should act promptly, and this is particularly the case where a “retrospective” application would be involved.

James Matthews

The conveyancing market has suffered from poor standards amongst some providers, as well as some instances of serious dishonesty and fraud.

The scheme was devised to address the fears of mortgage lenders and the public, and to recognise best practice amongst law firms, and is supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Building Societies Association and the Association of British Insurers. Any firm seeking accreditation is required to demonstrate, as part of an in-depth evaluation process, the quality and reliability of its service and the integrity of its staff. 

Tassells partner James Matthews, who heads the firm’s property department, commented “I am delighted that we have been able to gain official recognition for the quality of our conveyancing service. This is a tribute to all our staff, who work very hard to look after our clients’ needs”.