Legal Advice re inheritance and housing

newborn

I'm shocked that Leyla and Templar are not permitted to ask and receive advice which would, of course, be extremely relevant information for other people.  I would have hoped that an organisation intended to help disabled people and of course carers would welcome such posts.  As the  O.P says, discovering the correct specialist in anything is hard, but with solicitors it is next to impossible. 

 (To pre-empt the trite signposting to yet another futile circle, no, no, no, "ask the law society" will certainly not help.  One can  ask, but it is merely a list of whatever the various local firms claimed to have ability in, at the time they filled the form in.  They might have ambitiously claimed they could do crime, divorce, family, immigration,  wills, conveyancing, commercial, and more.   But there is no reason to think they ever did have anyone competent and up to date in anything, let alone everything, and of course they did not have specialists. )

Templar was a gold nugget to be treasured.   The fact she was giving general, free advice was to  be grasped with delight.   If, as a result of being aware of at least one specialist, people asked her directly, or could be redirected to a selection of her colleague specialists, I wonder if a) people at the end of their tether with inability to get essential disability related advice would find the sky brightened and the sun shining at last?  Or, b)  the sky would fall ?

layla53

Oh what a relief to find I am not the only one who just doesn't understand the ban on Templar's help.

 To be honest my daughter and I discussed this and pretty well gave up last night.  I've long ago been through all of the options such as trusts and decided against them as they are so complicated and the hassles it would give her are far too much.  I don't need help from ombudsmen or leasehold advisors,  I know the questions I need to ask. 

I tried many local lawyers,  one of whom appeared less than sympathetic to the plight of a disabled young woman facing life alone,  and another who did warn me about a particular pitfall but left it to me to find out how to resolve it. From anecdotal experience I know that lawyers who are particularly interested in disability matters are rare and precious, which is why I thought it was worth asking in this forum.  
As Newborn points out, there must be other people in a similar position who would welcome advice.  There are plenty of places to get mutual moral support, but good, solid,  sensible practical advice seems as far away as ever.  
You know what my daughter says, every time we read about appalling treatment of disabled and otherwise marginalised people,  and she is extremely engaged with everything that's going on in the world,  ME does not affect the intellect,  she says 'They just want us all to go away and die, Mum, not make any fuss, not shout about inequality, not ask for the pittance of benefits which they think we can live on...'. And that is not the voice of a depressed person, its the voice of an angry young woman,  who disappeared when she was 12.

I doubt I will ask any more questions on here,  I shall just have to continue my search elsewhere for someone to answer.  

newborn

Layla you describe well the frustration of the pointless loops One other organisation I thought of is Carers, which at least would in theory be exactly right.  Are you a member?

layla53

Oh no, I haven't come across that one,  I'll check it out, thank you :-)

newborn

P.S. I once had a battle with a council over what should not even have  needed a solicitor, because it was so obviously foolish.    (They wanted to measure the height of my perfectly standard 5 foot fence from the ground level of adjoining land, which was so much lower it was effectively down a pit) I was tormented, and struggled for months to discover someone who would slap them down by telling me what statute and case law to quote.   
That gave me an idea of how vital it is to get the right lawyer. And, how next-to- impossible it is to find one.

layla53

Oh you're so right.  I just don't understand why when you think you've come across a chance the door is slammed in your face. 

My daughter just said to me,  you think when you enter the adult world that you'll find other fully fledged adults who are paid to do a job will actually be able and willing to do the job they're paid for.  But you find out that vast numbers of them are actually inept and unwilling despite charging huge fees for their 'services'. The whole system is designed to grind you down until you just stop asking or looking for help! It makes me very sad that this is her main experience of life!!

Did you actually get your fence problem sorted out? 

I just feel defeated now,  My idea of a group like this was mutual help and advice,  I do wonder really now what the purpose is of this group other than trying to send people off in a different direction and back into endless useless loops.

One clear thing I have taken is that we will indeed have to get her a passport.  How utterly ludicrous for someone who can't even manage to walk in her own garden.  There must be vast numbers of disabled and generally  disadvantaged people who need official ID. Why on earth isn't there an official ID card they can apply for! It wouldn't have to be a universal national id card,  surely some government department could come up with something legally acceptable.  Not a lot of kudos in that though is there!!! And I quite agree with what you said earlier,  the hoops you have to jump through to prove identity are many and get higher all the time.  If people have been able to get away without providing the documents listed in the first group on official requirements I think they've been very lucky.

I've had her name added to all the utility bills and she has a bank account so she's OK on the second group,  but what I'm thinking about  is that when I die she will have to negotiate probate, selling the house,  buying somewhere to live, all sorts of massive things she has absolutely no experience of at all.  And without a passport it's almost as if she doesn't exist in the financial and legal world.  Let's face it,  life for disabled people is **** isn't it!! Good job she has a sense of humour and a strong sense of what's right. 

Rant over for now!!

layla53

By the way, Newborn, did you mean Carersuk? I think I did join that some time ago, I must check it out again.  They also allow PMs which is very helpful. 

layla53

Ah,ok, thanks, that's fair enough

chiarieds

As woodbine mentions, once you've made 25 posts you are able to send a PM. If someone else has made more than 25 posts, then they can send you a PM to which you can reply even if you haven't made 25 posts yourself.

The purpose of this community is to offer both help & support to disabled people, or those that have a disabled relative or friend. Please understand we're just such people ourselves, & tho many can help with benefits they know about, lived experiences, etc. we can't safely offer medical advice, &, as already mentioned, it's strange that Citizens Advice signposted you here, as ordinary members will not have any legal advice, rather they should have been able to help more.

I'm sorry you seem disappointed in the community, but often the best that can be done is to signpost people to resources that we hope may help. If that turns out not to help someone, that's perhaps not the fault of the community, but rather the organisations that haven't provided the help we would expect.

Just to add, there was indeed a possibly helpful post just made today by a member of the Scope team, which may help you as far as photo ID goes for your daughter. Please look at this post & scroll down to Ross's post about an Access or DID card. Please see: https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/398085#Comment_398085

We are all trying to help you the best that we can, & please remember we give our time freely trying to do so. Many of us appreciate your frustration; as mainly disabled people we've had to face many & varied problems too.

chiarieds

@layla53 - Just again to mention the Blue Badge scheme, altho you feel your daughter would not get the benefit out of it, if she receives certain benefits she would automatically qualify, & these cost £10 if you're in England, & last 3 years, or until such a benefit might expire.

Again, considering probate, most young people won't understand much about it, but, if you find an appropriate solicitor with your will making, then they can act as executor, or co-executor with your daughter. I speak as someone who changed their will last month, & I was given to understand that you can ask a solicitor to deal with probate at a later stage should you wish, as currently I have my daughter & son as co-executors, but this can all be left up to a solicitor.