- By Luke Bishop
- Published 05/31/2012
Personal injury legal services get a lot of press these days – and for good reason. Enlisting the help of good quality legal professionals when you’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault can result in you receiving the compensation you deserve, and alert the company in question to improve safety policy to ensure that incidents are kept to a minimum. But what of Personal Injury Trusts?
Well, top-ranked Fentons Solicitors has a department specialising in just that. You can create a personal injury trust by asking other individuals or a company to hold assets on your behalf – these people will be known as your ‘Trustees’. A personal injury trust describes a trust that has been set up using an award of compensation but does not describe the type of trust that holds the compensation.
If you are in receipt of means-tested benefits, the capital value of any award of personal injury compensation you receive will be taken into account when calculating your entitlement to those benefits. However, if you set up a personal injury trust with your compensation award, that capital is disregarded and will not affect your entitlement to means-tested benefits.
A personal injury trust can also be used to protect your award from being taken into account for the cost of current or future long-term care. Placing your compensation award into a personal injury trust will enable the capital to be disregarded when your contribution to care costs are considered.
In order to avoid any loss of benefits, a personal injury trust should be set up before you receive your award of compensation. However, a personal injury trust can be set up at any time using your compensation award.
If you’d like to find out more about Personal Injury Trusts and what they can do for you, give Fentons a call on 0845 026 4749 and speak to one of their experts.
About the Author: Luke Bishop is a writer and supporter of personal injury trusts
