Personal Injury Trusts

If you have had an accident and received compensation, and have been in receipt of means-tested state benefits (such as Income Support, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit) then you may wish to consider establishing what is known as a "Personal Injury Trust". The general rule is that if your compensation is paid directly to you and if it takes you over the savings threshold then your benefits entitlement will be reduced and quite possibly stopped altogether.

In many cases, the trust that is used is a "bare trust", although in some circumstances other forms of trust are appropriate, and this is something that we can advise on. It is important to ensure the correct type of trust is used and this will depend upon your needs, your circumstances and possibly the involvement of the Court. The correct form of trust should enable you to retain your entitlement to most means-tested state benefits and/or local authority funding.

Two people are required to act as trustees. Our trust corporation, Clarke Willmott Trust Corporation Limited, can act as a trustee if required, although this is not essential. Once the trust has been established, a trust bank account needs to be opened, and this is something that we can arrange for you. After the compensation monies have been paid into the trust account, an investment strategy can be formulated, which takes account of your needs and the anticipated length of time that the trust will have to run. In conjunction with our Investment Management team, we are able to advise you on an appropriate strategy for the investment of compensation monies and provide guidance to the trustees on the current law as relates to these trusts.