The problem is so bad, say the charity that they estimate that tens of millions of pounds could be involved. Solicitors have said that the rise in financial abuse may be due to the substantial increases in property prices over these last few years.

The charity warns that a lack of awareness of the predicament makes such crimes easy. More and more people are contacting the charity for help.

The charity isn’t saying this happens to every family, but the problem is wide-scale. Large sums of money are involved. The financial abuse can include:
* Theft on money and possessions from an older person
* Benefits collected by family being withheld
* Older people being forced to sell their homes or being remortgaged to raise money for other family members.

Last year the government made good measures to ensure that Powers of Attorney became much more difficult to exploit. These legal documents can protect the finance of anyone, not just the elderly. They require the ‘donor’ (the owner of the finances) to nominate an ‘attorney’ (the person who will manage the finances) so that the right person or people can be involved. The documents can be used while a person has their full capacity, or after it is lost (maybe even temporary).

Say the charity “Many aged people are too embarrassed to say what has happened, or perhaps do not realise what has happened because of their mental decline.” “We need to create a culture in which people can blow the whistle when they find something suspicious because we can’t allow so may older people to be defrauded.”

LSUK recommends everyone to take out a power of attorney to protect their finances in later years. It may not be 100% foolproof to stop all theft from family members, but it places legal considerations in place that may put off most potential family criminals, because it most certainly is a crime.

Currently, if you die without making a will and you leave a spouse/civil partner and children, the spouse is only entitled to the first £125,000 of your estate. This often means that a family home might need to be sold. This figure is going to be increased next year to £250,000 meaning that more spouses/civil partner will not need to sell the family home, just to abide by the laws of intestacy.

If you don’t leave a will but leave a spouse/civil partner and you have no children, then currently your spouse can claim just £200,000. This figure will increase to a more sensible £450,000. There appears more chance that in these circumstances that the spouse/civil partner will be able to keep the family home and probably some other financial assets as well as the average priced house in the UK is well below this level, unless of course, you live inside the M25 and those other selected areas.

The government was worried that intestacy figures had fallen out of line with real life.

Justice Minister Bridget Prentice said: “This increase will give extra protection to married couples and civil partners whose spouse or civil partner dies without making a will.”

“But it also highlights how important it is for both men and women to make arrangements for their loved ones in the event of their deaths.”

“Married couples and civil partners should not assume that when their spouse or civil partner dies, they will automatically be entitled to everything. It is up to individuals to make sure that their wishes are respected by making a will.”

“My message to people is, don’t leave it to chance. Make sure your loved ones are properly provided for by leaving a will.”

LSUK completely agree with that last statement; why leave matters to chance when for a relatively small fee, you can put your will writing affairs in order?

CLDF is hoping that this special offer might encourage supporters to consider leaving a legacy to enable it to continue its vital work in research, education and family services.

What is a legacy?

A legacy is a gift of money or belongings left in a will to benefit other people or organisations such as charities. It is a means of providing for your loved ones and supporting the causes which are important to you.

Did you know…?

• At least two children are diagnosed with a life-threatening liver disease every day in the UK

• More children in the UK are currently diagnosed with a liver disease than childhood leukaemia

• Most childhood liver diseases are life threatening; all mean a lifetime of care

• There are over 100 different liver diseases that can affect babies, children or young people

• For most childhood liver diseases the causes are unknown

• Liver disease has no cure

Why leave a legacy to CLDF?

• CLDF is the only UK charity working exclusively on behalf of babies and children suffering from liver disease

• It funds vital research into treatments and cures for childhood liver conditions

• CLDF provides information and practical support to families when they need it most

• CLDF is independent and can speak on behalf of children and families to government and the Department of Health

• CLDF has achieved a great deal - but much more remains to be done

• A legacy is a tax-free way to make a significant gift to charity

If you’d like to find out more about CLDF please visit the website at: www.childliverdisease.org or call them on 0121 212 3839.

He left one and a half million pounds sterling in his estate. The bulk of that estate went to his four children, Ian, William, Robert, Catherine.

Sir George died in April 2007 at the age of 82. He was The Queen’s surgeon-gynecologist from 1793 until 1990.

He also treated Princess Diana when she fell down the stairs at Sandringham when she was pregnant with William.

His late wife, Dorothy, died in 2003.

As a final wish he left a request that eight of his closest friends be treated to a weekend break at the Lygon Arms which is a 16th century hotel located near to his home in Broadway in Worcestershire.

This can be looked at from two points of view;
1. The trustees you appoint if it’s a trust you’re setting up and
2. The trustees looking after your money if you’re a beneficiary from a trust

Trust law is extremely complex. If you have any doubts you should take professional advice, but this may prove costly.

Trustees have a number of powers, duties and responsibilities. In applying any investment powers they may have, the trustees have got to think about the correctness of the investments for all beneficiaries, keep them under evaluation and change them if suitable.

If you’re appointing trustees you need to appoint people who are going to be able to carry out the tasks you set them. It may be a trust in a will and you won’t be able to see over what they’re doing because for them to be working your trust, you’ll have died first.

You need to select people you trust to carry out the task just as you’d want it completing. You should speak with your trustees and ensure they know exactly what you expect of them, but always remember that when you’ve handed over the task, via a Will, for example, then it will be up to them to find the most suitable way to carry out your requests. Laws change and financial circumstances change. They’ll need to adapt to situations you might not have imagined.

If the trustees are managing money for you as a beneficiary of the trust, then you don’t have any say in what they’re doing, but if you feel they’re not acting correctly (to be polite) then you can go to court (as a last resort) and have a judge look at the trust and to analyze how they’re managing the trust. You should talk with the trustees first to raise your concerns.

If this is your chosen route, you’ll need to balance the cost of going to court against the potential gains you’ll (maybe) make.

Here’s what you’d need to put into your safe:

1. Your insurance policies and contact information; you’ll need this straight away after a fire or other home damage

2. Passports and birth certificates can be slow and costly to replace so keep them safe

3. Keep a list of your family’s medications, prescriptions, doctor’s information; you may need new prescriptions quickly

4. A hard drive or CD/DVDs of family photos is important as the loss of these is devastating, and value way beyond their financial cost. They may be impossible to replace. The same could be said of your MP3 collection!

5. Investment papers, pension documents, bank and building society information and relevant contact information. You may need to contact them quickly

6. Debts, credit card bills with due dates and contact information. Missing payment dates could lead to further bills and charges

7. Anything to do with national insurance, numbers and information; benefit details

8. Copies of your Will, copies of your power of attorney, copies of your living will, copies of your house title deeds, foreign property information. It’s important that you don’t keep your originals in the fire safe as all other documents listed in 1 to 7 above can be replaced, even with hassle, but your originals can’t be replaced – you’d have to start again. The copies you should keep in your safe will help you contact your will writing company to get new copies to you. If you had the original Will and power of attorney for example, you’d need new versions so they can be signed and witnessed again and therefore, legally valid. The originals should be kept in your will writing company’s bomb proof, fire proof, water proof safes. Those safes will withstand almost certainly anything your home safe may not, but something at home is much better than nothing.

Always use your will writing company’s safe storage facility (having asked about its quality first!) - don’t risk it for the sake of a few pence a day.

Please use the comments box to add any thoughts you have on this subject.

After we’ve talked about a power of attorney (called a Lasting Power of Attorney in England and Wales) we’ll ask you to briefly explain what one is so we can be sure you know enough about the document and what it will do for you, your family, your partner and your colleagues.

We’ll ask you who suggested that you make a power of attorney (POA)? We want to ensure that you’re not making one under someone else’s influence to gain access to your money and property, unlawfully.

Asking you why you want to make a POA will help us know what suggestions we can make to guide you to the best result.

Who you are appointing as attorneys is most important. We won’t tell you who to appoint, but we can give you plus and minus points about different arrangements.

Why have you appointed those people - is another question we’ll ask you. We want to ensure that they’re capable, knowledgable and not pressurising you.

What powers do you want to give to your attorneys? Do you understand what those powers mean?

We’ll ask you (alone) if anyone has pressurised you into making the POA. We won’t allow an illegal action to take place.

We’ll take notes of anyone present during the original meeting and the signing process to ensure that you’re doing what you would like, when you want to, in the manner that you desire

After all, we’re here to help you.

This follows a consultation on increases to its fees between February and early May 2008 which the Scottish Court Service undertook.

They have also set fees for April 2009 and April 2010. The cost of registering your Power of Attorney won’t increase next April, but it will increase to £70 from April 2010.

Good news, though. The increases were around half as much as they originally intended.

It may, or not, be interesting to note that The Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) operational budget for 2007/2008 is £2,153,920. This total figure incorporates both staff costs £1,913,124 (such as salaries, pensions etc) and non-staff costs £240,796 (telephones, postage, printing, etc).

From their website:

“The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) has a range of functions under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act.

The OPG provides information advice and guidance with regard to Powers of Attorney; Access to Funds; Guardianship and Intervention Orders; and investigations.

The OPG also maintains a Public Register of all continuing powers of attorneys, and welfare powers of attorney drawn up after April 2001, all withdrawers appointed under the access to funds scheme and all guardians and interveners appointed by the courts after April 2002

The OPG investigates concerns where the property or financial affairs of an adult seem to be at risk.

The OPG supervises the actions of withdrawers appointed under the access to funds scheme.

The OPG also supervises all financial guardians and interveners appointed by the courts. As part of this supervision a financial guardian may be required to provide the OPG with a Management Plan, Inventory of Estate and an annual accounting.”

A client has asked us the following question about care home fees and how the local authority decides who pays:

Could I have some feed back on the limit of the Local Authority (LA) powers to claw back fees against property owned by the daughter and only child of an elderly lady.

Approximately two years ago the daughter and her family decided the elderly lady should move nearer to them so they could look after her better. Her house was sold and the proceeds of £150K were not enough to buy a suitable property so the daughter raised £50K against the family home (in sole name of the daughter). The £200K purchased the property and this was put in the sole name of the daughter, the £150K being gifted to the daughter. The elderly mother presently lives there.

The daughter is 36 and the old lady is 78 and the house is currently valued at £300K. The family feels the mother’s gradual loss of health (physical and mental) may hasten the need for her to go in to a home. What claim could they have against this property?

I am concerned that the LA may try and force a sale to seek all they need for fees.

Would this action be limited to the original input of the mother or the whole of the proceeds less the £50K put up by the daughter?

We reply:

The local authorities have simple rules; get all the money they can from the public providing it’s within the rules. You’ll have seen the bin police, the yellow cameras, the council and hospital parking charges; they also can’t afford to provide for care homes so they need the public to pay as much as possible. This isn’t political speak, just facing the facts.

There are no rules about time limits as far as the LA are concerned. If you were 40 and did a transfer and then had a car accident and needed care home facilities, they wouldn’t have deemed that you’ve tried to get out of paying the bills. However, if you’re 90 and you gave away your property ten years ago, they might deem it that you did that to avoid care home fees.

You can fight the LA, but you need facts and a paper trail.

Why would the mother give her property away? Did the children originally finance it through a mortgage in the mother’s name, but the children paid for it? Have the children always maintained the property? Did the mother owe her daughter money?

You need to state why something happened, specifically. You need to document everything so that you build up a small (or large) file of why things happened to prove you didn’t give away your property to avoid future bills.

If you did give away your property to avoid future care home fees, then own up and give up.

Be prepared to fight and dig your heels in.

However, they can be reasonable (ish!) and they may take the mother’s percentage of the home and keep that percentage of the new home valuation, thus the daughter’s 50k would be worth 25% of the current valuation.

Speak with an LSUK professional who will be able to talk through your individual case with you and advise you accordingly.

However, mostly it’s a ‘no’ situation because as is the situation with most of us, you’ve left home, you don’t support your mother financially and you don’t really have any financial links. When this is the case you don’t have to leave them anything in your will.

This has been highlighted following the death of DJ Kevin Greening. He left his entire estate, around half a million pounds, to his life partner Adrian Lowe.

Why this is looking unusual is because Mr Greening left his partner two years earlier (the relationship, although they continued to live together) but never updated his 1991 will.

The importance of updating your will, or at least checking it at least annually, has become abundantly clear, at this point. Always ask for the advice of a professional.