Archive for the ‘Our News’ Category
Thursday, November 24th, 2011
A new body has been launched to try to end what is perceived as the “taboo” in Scottish society which prevents open discussion of death dying and bereavement. The group called “Good Life Good Death Good Grief” is funded by the Scottish Government and its aims are supported by a number of major charities. At the recent public launch of the group in Edinburgh a number of speakers, including poet Liz Lochead, poignantly described their experiences where a death affected their families.
The thinking behind the new initiative is that a lot of harm to society arises from the taboo stopping us discussing death openly. This harm manifests itself in many ways from the inability to communicate comfortably with a friend or work colleague, who has suffered bereavement – to families becoming involved in legal disputes because someone died without making a Will. We even seem as a society to have difficulty communicating with people who are dying. One terminally ill speaker, at the launch, explained how a number of her best friends had simply stopped contacting her once they know she was ill.
The new group believes that a new open approach, to death dying and bereavement, will hopefully help educate people to behave a bit differently and to deal better with all the issues involved round death, whether with friends or families or in the workplace.
Caesar and Howie support the aims of Good Life Good Death Good Grief. Managing Partner David Borrowman commented “I think the group’s aims are laudable and cover many aspects of life. But, just taking the legal issues involved there is no doubt whatsoever, that families cope much better with adverse events if some basic legal preparations have been taken. Frankly, every adult should prepare a Will, a Power of Attorney and an Advance Directive, which is a statement of their treatment preferences in the last stages of illness. If everyone were to take these simple and cheap legal steps much distress and difficulty and unnecessary expense for families would be avoided. And remember, many pensioners in Scotland can get legal aid for Wills, Powers of Attorney and “living wills” so there may be no expense involved at all”.
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Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Housing Minister, Keith Brown has announced extra funding for the LIFT Scheme. This is a government sponsored scheme designed to help first time buyers to buy houses inScotland. The scheme is intended to target in particular, those on low or moderate incomes and to assist them buy their first house. Effectively, the government provides an interest free deposit to house purchasers wishing to buy in the lower cost sector of the market – often called the “starter home” sector. In return for the interest free deposit the Scottish Government effectively takes an equity share in the property. A further £4.65 million housing is being made available to help the Open Market Shared Equity, part of the overall Lift scheme. This is that part of the LIFT scheme which allows purchases of second hand properties as opposed to “new builds”.
Figures suggest that the new money available could help around 250 first time house buyers into the market.
David Borrowman, Managing Partner of Caesar and Howie, welcomed the announcement but suggests a sense of proportion be retained by all in considering the effect on the market.
David comments “Caesar and Howie favour the Lift scheme – we have introduced it to many of our clients and they have found it useful to them in getting a start on the housing ladder. So it is good news if more money is going into LIFT – this is really a good scheme for young house buyers. There are two things, however, which would make this scheme much more effective. The restriction in giving these funds to tenants renting in the private sector should be removed. Plenty of private tenants are desperate to buy and with private rents going up, this group may be needs more help than those tenants of social landlords – yet these tenants are given priority under the scheme. Also the amounts of money going in are pretty limited. The Scottish Government are right to look at ways of helping first time buyers. When a first time buyer buys a property the seller usually buys a new property as well. That means you could give the market a much needed fillip with this LIFT scheme. But in all honesty at this funding level it is a bit like firing a couple of airgun pellets when you really need a barrage of artillery to get a result. When the City ofEdinburgh District Council(of all institutions) can find £150 million to fund social house building this government investment of under £5m in LIFT looks feeble. So I would say to Mr Brown – you are on the right track – but much more money please if you want to get the market buzzing again.
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Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Caesar and Howie continued their long term sponsorship of Alloa Athletic by being main Sponsor of the Alloa v Montrose clash on 24th September. Fourteen guests enjoyed some silky football as Alloa’s young team ran out worthy 4 -2 winners – a win which takes Alloa to second place in the Third Division. Manager Paul Hartley felt his players were coming on well and settling in to a good style of play. “They seem to be enjoying attacking football and that is what I am trying to bring to this club”. Caesar and Howie’s guests had a convivial day in the John White lounge enjoying Alloa’s legendary hospitality. Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney thanked Caesar and Howie for their contribution to the club and promised great things for the future “I am confident the best is still to come from this team”.
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Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
It never ceases to amaze me that so few of us plan ahead for adverse family events. It is difficult to get statistics but we think about 60% of adults haven’t made wills, probably about 90% haven’t done a power of attorney and possibly as few as 1% have completed an advance directive or “living will” stating what medical treatment they would wish or not wish in the last stages of a terminal illness. And yet, when I speak to older peoples’ clubs and groups about family care – almost everyone I speak to has clear views about what they would want done with their property after their death, what they would like to happen should they become unable to look after themselves and how they would like to be treated in the last stages of a serious illness. So it is a bit odd that these clearly expressed views are not translated into getting the legal documents in place to ensure these wishes are followed.
I try to encourage everyone to make these views clear and to take the basic legal steps they need to take, to ensure that family and loved ones better survive the adverse effects that death and serious illness bring to a family. It really is simple – a couple of visits to a lawyer will be enough to get in place a power of attorney, a will and an advance directive – three vital “family care” documents all individuals should complete. Very simply appointing someone to be your attorney by completing a power of attorney assures if you lose legal capacity through illness someone has legal authority to look after your affairs. Without a power of attorney a guardian would have to be appointed in a court action which really should be avoided at all costs because of the stress and expense involved – the last thing any family needs when one family member has been struck down by serious illness. Making a will ensures your property goes where you want it to go – not where the state says – which might not be what many people want. For example, many folk don’t believe that a surviving spouse may not automatically inherit the family home – but that is the true legal position where there is no will. Finally, an advance directive is a written instruction to your doctors and carers as to how you want to be treated in the last stages of an illness – when you are unable to communicate. Spelling out your wishes to your family in advance like this gives them the confidence to make “end of life” medical decisions in accordance with your wishes – and spares family members the worry and possible guilt of perhaps feeling they had made a decision you might not have wanted.
It is just not difficult or expensive to get these documents in place. And perhaps the best news is that probably about 70% of Scottish pensioners qualify for “Legal Advice and Assistance” which means they can get these documents done either free or at a subsidised cost. That scheme can be easily accessed by people of pension age – in fact a telephone assessment can be done in minutes – so clients will know right from the outset whether they can get the work done free or at a reduced cost.
So please don’t put off decisions – get these basic family care documents in place. Phone 01506 815900 for a legal aid assessment – it really is easy.
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Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
The Daily Mail recently reported that an estimated 20,000 homes a year in the UK are sold to pay for the care costs of the owner, when that owner needs residential care. That is a pretty dramatic figure and the Mail points out that effectively about 60 houses a day are sold to pay for care costs. Each one of these sales represents a tragedy for the elderly owners and of course it also means their family also loses an inheritance, probably built up by the elderly owner over many years of prudent and thrifty behaviour.
One of the problem issues for families with an elderly member needing care is the soaring cost of care itself. The Mail also reports a rise in care costs of 20% over the last five years. In Scotland nursing and personal care are free to all but accommodation care costs are not. With accommodation care costs now frequently around £30,000 per year it is easy to see how someone’s assets can be devastated very quickly indeed if they have to move into care and pay for it.
Some financial help is available but anybody with capital valued at more than £22,750 has to pay. With this limit being so low it means in practice that every householder in Scotland may be liable to pay for their own care costs – and many Scottish houses may be sold to pay for care.
Is there a way of avoiding this problem? Well at the moment th
ere are several possible ways of dealing with this issue says Caesar and Howie Partner, Sarah Patrick., one of the firm’s Senior Issues team. “What individuals must do is to organise their affairs so that a house is not owned by them individually at the time their assessment for help or otherwise for payment of care costs. Placing a house in a Discretionary Family Trust where it is owned by trustees – usually the individuals themselves with their family will have that effect”. However, any such trust must not be set up solely for the purpose of avoiding care costs. Sarah adds “you need to act well before any care costs are in contemplation and the trust deed must make it clear that it was set up for different reasons. But there are many legitimate reasons for setting up a trust for elderly people not least for the better management of their affairs if they become infirm. If you like, the avoidance of care costs is a sort of beneficial side effect of the trust model”.
Such trusts are becoming quite popular with families who really want to preserve assets but there are other routes to address the issue at least in part. Lesley Cunningham, another partner in the Caesar and Howie Senior Issues team, comments “Some families enter into less sophisticated arrangements such as gifting property to children but reserving the right to live in the house. There are “pluses and minuses” with each route anyone chooses and advice must be sought at every stage. Each family is different and what suits one may not suit another. But, if you are worried about care costs – waiting till someone is about to go into care is much too late. The legal steps which may help avoiding care costs have to be completed long before the point when care is needed – the longer the better”.
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Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
With a £900 million cut in the Scottish Budget next year it is clear various services must be hit. A whole series of bodies including Age Scotland and the Scottish Association for Mental Health have flagged up worries facing various sectors in society – particularly disadvantaged groups.
Now the Law Society of Scotland has joined the debate and warned that cuts in the legal aid budget would threaten the public’s access to justice.
One little known feature of the Scottish Legal Aid system is that it is relatively generous to pensioners. Through the “Advice and Assistance” element of the legal aid system, about 80 to 90% of Scottish pensioners can have basic legal work done absolutely free or at a significantly subsidised cost.
David Borrowman, of Caesar and Howie is worried that this aspect of the system may change. “I really hope that whatever changes come to the system this relative generosity to older folk stays in place” says David…“A key document every older person should prepare is a Power of Attorney, appointing a trusted friend or relative to look after their affairs should they become unable to themselves. We prepare lots of these free to the client because of legal aid and I would hate to see that benefit removed. Apart from anything else the cost of dealing with incapacity would go up because the less Powers of Attorney that are written the more court applications for guardianship there will be.”
David’s advice to pensioners and to those involved in pensioners groups is simple.
“Pensioners should act now – the three key family care documents, a Will, a Power of Attorney and a Living Will can all be done on legal aid. Do them now – don’t’ wait. If this benefit is cut you will be too late.”
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Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
(Senior Partner Ivor Klayman of Caesar and Howie sounds a note of caution)
We live in austere times these days. Money is tight in most households and we are all looking for ways to get things done cheaply if we can. DIY stores are apparently bucking the retail trend for that very reason. We are also seeing from time to time some legal work being done by individuals themselves. This seems to be limited to probably two areas of work, letting residential property and writing wills. On the letting side some people are reluctant landlords rather than landlords of choice – with letting being a last resort when the housing market is poor. These landlords may be trying to let “on the cheap” On the wills side there has always been a small number of people who go “DIY”.
Sometimes a DIY legal job is done properly but over my career, for every well done DIY job I have seen, I have probably seen 10 times as many failures. That’s a pretty horrible ratio and the consequences for the individuals and their families can be damaging and expensive to fix – if they can be fixed.
Not setting up a Short Assured Tenancy properly can make it very difficult to recover the property from the tenant. Not serving Notices to Quit properly can have the same effect and cause significant wasted court costs. On top of that there is now a mass of legislation placing obligations on landlords, where if any obligations are not met, the consequences are potentially extremely serious. So letting a house in Scotland without understanding the legal framework surrounding residential letting in Scotland is risky to say the least.
On the wills side I have seen “self made “wills which vary from being completely invalid to ones which were wholly confused and contradictory. I have even seen a DIY will which did not actually leave the person’s property to anyone!
If legal documents are to have legal effect, experience of drafting such documents and of the meaning of legal terminology is really necessary to get things right.
I would never dream of rewiring my own house because I don’t have the skill and knowledge of an electrician (and anyway, it would now be illegal!). I think DIY in critical areas is simply dangerous and usually a false economy. In our field we generally earn higher fees sorting out an estate for example with a shambolic DIY will than we ever would from doing a correct will in the first place.
And one last point – all Scottish solicitors carry compulsory insurance against defective work. If a solicitor does make a mistake clients can be and are compensated for losses occurring. This is a massive protection for the Scottish public and really should make people think twice before perhaps dabbling in drafting legal documents which if wrongly completed could cost them or their family dear.
Ivor Klayman
Senior Partner
Caesar and Howie
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Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Scotland has a very generous legal aid system for pensioners. A pensioner can be on a state pension, have a modest private income, £26,664 of savings and still get legal aid for vital issues. For a pensioner couple the limit is £26,999. Issues of most interest to pensioners are writing a Will, appointing an Attorney to look after the pensioner‘s affairs should that person fall ill and become incapable of dealing with things. There is also an increasing demand amongst pensioners to prepare Advance Healthcare Directives (otherwise known as Living Wills) which state the person’s wishes regarding medical treatment in extreme situations. But legal advice is also available for many other matters covered by the Legal Advice and Assistance Scheme.
However, this year the Scottish Legal Aid Board have already intimated an increase in civil applications of 24%. This and the certainty of government cuts to come could mean that this generous benefit to pensioners could be under threat in the future.
David Borrowman, Managing Partner of Caesar and Howie, states “We believe probably over 80% of Scottish pensioners could have their affairs put in order either free or at a significantly subsidised cost using legal aid. Having these documents in place is massively helpful to families. Powers of Attorney in particular, can save families the stress of court actions should a family member become unable to look after themselves.”
It is possible however that legal aid will be less easy to get in the future. David continues “I understand the Scottish budget is protected for this year but will not be after that. I hope legal aid is ring fenced since it helps the more vulnerable in our society – but who knows what may be cut in the future. My advice to senior citizens is to act now – get these family care documents done whilst legal aid is available.”
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Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Caesar & Howie have been invited to join the Equity Release Solicitors Alliance (ERSA) which is a group of specialist legal firms involved in equity release. The aims of ERSA are to improve the knowledge and understanding of equity release within the market place and to provide impartial specialist legal advice to homeowners considering taking out Equity Release plans.
Equity Release Partner Carmen MacIver comments “we were delighted to receive the invitation to join ERSA – effectively that organisation provides a Kite Mark for quality of service in this particular area of work. That’s what we aim to do for our Equity Release clients – give a top quality fast service which is impartial and expert. To be the first firm in Scotland to be asked to join up is pretty special too”.
Like other ERSA members Caesar & Howie have invested significantly in building up the firm’s capability in Equity Release. “We have been working on our quality of service for nearly three years now ”states Managing Partner David Borrowman“ and this involves creating top quality computer systems which enable us to process work quickly – as well as ensuring staff are well trained and are kept up to date with all developments in Equity Release. This is a growth area and we are glad we have committed resources to it. But it is an enjoyable sector to work in also – releasing money from their house makes life very much happier for many clients and it is satisfying to be working for them in the Equity Release process”.
Tags: Equity Release
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Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
House sellers in the Central Region are now able to benefit from the creation of a new Solicitors Property Centre, designed specifically to help house sellers in the Central region.
Central Solicitors are banding together to create Central SPC – which will offer all the services locally which the traditional SPC’s offer. The website section of the new project has launched and already over four hundred properties are for sale on www.centralspc.co.uk. A property newspaper will follow in January – linked to the massively successful GSPC property paper.
An SPC is effectively a solicitors’ cooperative where pooled resources allow solicitors to offer enhanced marketing services for their clients’ properties.
“I’m very excited about the development” says Caesar and Howie Managing Partner David Borrowman. “ESPC and GSPC have been extremely successful in Edinburgh and Glasgow – and we think this new grouping can do the same out here. Solicitors pooling our resources and buying power means top quality schedules, very cheap newspaper advertising and massive internet coverage for sellers properties over no less than fifteen different property websites linked to our site. On top of that we have a fantastic out of hour’s telephone service for buyers and sellers alike – and that can only help clients selling houses. All property sales work from valuation, home report production, estate agency, through to the final conveyancing can be carried out by each of our members – so it is a genuine one stop service for clients buying or selling property”.
The new service has been launched under the guidance of GSPC – whose Chief Executive Bill Scouller said “we are delighted to be now helping solicitors in central with their new project. It is a great service now but the good news is we are working constantly to improve what solicitors can offer and I’ll soon be announcing yet more innovations for clients using Central SPC. I expect Central SPC to become the main selling force in its market area very quickly indeed – they have a great product which gives an edge to people wanting to sell their house”.
(more…)
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