Are you one of the thousands affected by the McClures scandal?
Legal problems arising after McClures Solicitors went into administration have left former clients unable to sell their homes – including people in the Lincoln area.
Help is available through city firm Sills and Betteridge, which is on a recommended list of law firms to help those affected by the issues caused by McClures.
The latter has been investigated by the both the Legal Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority particularly for its work in connection with Family Protection Trusts.
These typically hold the family home and other financial assets and sold to clients on the basis that they protect those assets against potential risks that may arise in the future, such as inheritance tax, care fees, bankruptcy, mental incapacity, death and divorce.
These trusts – McClures set up around 18,000 - were particularly popular to prevent the family home and other assets from being used to pay for care home fees. However, it is alleged that the McClures representatives failed to properly advise on the rules around 'deliberate deprivation' of assets.
Deliberate deprivation is to intentionally give assets away (including to a trust), so that they are not available to pay for their care in the future. If a local authority can show that the person knew that they could need care in the future when giving away assets it can treat them as if they still own them when assessing their ability to pay for care.
The local authority can then avoid funding care putting pressure on the wider family and there is no time limit on such an action.
A spokesman for Sills and Betteridge explained the issue with McClures’ trusts: “For those trusts where the directors or employees of McClure Solicitors are appointed as trustees of trusts which include a property, difficulties can arise when looking to sell or transfer the property.
“The trustees' names will be recorded at the Land Registry as the proprietor of the property. It is not possible to sell the property without the consent of the trustees. Several people have reported experiencing continuing difficulties in obtaining information about their trusts when they have wanted to move house.
“We recently represented the family of an elderly person who was unable to sell their large home which was tied up in a McClures trust. This was preventing them from downsizing to a more accessible bungalow. The trustees were contacted but did not respond to many of the requests.
“They finally agreed to step down as trustees if the family paid an 'administration charge' in return. Fortunately, with our intervention the trustees did eventually agree to retire and agreed not to charge their administration fee to do so.”
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