The death of a loved one is always a difficult time with many things that need to be sorted out, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed. The first and second step in most cases is arranging the funeral and registering the death. Then depending on the value of the deceased's estate there may be a need to apply for Probate. My name is Natasha Hejabizadeha, I am a solicitor specialising in Wills, Trusts and Probate, Court of Protection and Community Care matters. Today I will be talking about the basic issues to consider when it comes to applying for Probate.

The term Probate is used to describe the administration of someone's estate following their death. The person or persons able to administer someone's estate are known as the personal representatives (or PR's) and they are appointed either through someone's will or through the application of the intestacy rules if there is no will. The PR's essentially "step into the shoes" of the deceased. The document that allows them to do so is called a Grant of Probate or if there is no will, a Grant of Letters of Administration. If there is property in the estate which needs to be sold or if the deceased's assets exceed the value of £15,000 the PR's will in most cases need to apply for a Grant.

PR's can contact their local Probate Registry to obtain the necessary application forms for a Grant. Once the Grant is obtained, the PR's are responsible for collecting in the deceased's assets, paying off their debts and making sure those entitled to inherit (i.e the beneficiaries) are identified and receive their due inheritance.

There may be instances where the estate owes inheritance or income tax and the PR's are responsible for ensuring that all tax is accounted for and paid. It is important to note that all liabilities of the estate must be paid before any of it is distributed to the beneficiaries.

That concludes the basics of applying for Probate. This is only an introduction to the issues, so please do take a look at the other videos on this site as they may answer other questions you have. You can also call me or one of my colleagues, for a free chat to see if we can help or you can attend our Wills, Trusts and Probate clinic which runs every Tuesday between 2 and 4pm, for a free 20 minute no obligation consultation with me or one of my colleagues.

One in four people will experience mental health problems at some point during the course of a year.  The majority of people are not admitted to psychiatric hospital.  However, there is a small and growing percentage of people who are admitted and sometimes detained against their will. Involvement in the psychiatric system can be distressing for patient and the family.  The premises of challenging the detention or understanding the legal issues involved can be difficult. 

My name is Katarzyna Podkowik, I am a Director and a Solicitor at GN Law and I specialise in mental health law matters. Today I will talk about admission to a psychiatric hospital.  

In England and Wales under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 a person can be deprived of their liberty at a psychiatric hospital. Most patients will be given the option of staying in hospital without being formally detained under the Act. This is known as a voluntary admission.  If you agree to accept voluntary admission then, strictly, you are free to leave at any time.However, there is a danger that you might be detained against your will if you try to leave when the Doctor treating you feels that you should remain in hospital. If a person refuses voluntary admission then they can be detained against their will if two Doctors and a Social Worker feel that it is necessary for them to be in hospital to protect them or other people. If a person is detained against their will then they can apply to be discharged from hospital. This is done either internally to the Hospital Managers or externally to the First-tier Tribunal.  There are certain deadlines for application which must be met according to the section that the patient is detained under. These details are outside the scope of this video.  Free legal advice is available for both Managers' Hearings and Tribunals. 2.20 In Tribunal cases this funding is non-means tested.  The funding is sometimes means tested for Managers' Hearings.

This is only an introduction to the mental health law issues involving admission to hospital so please do take a look all of the videos on this site as they may answer the other questions you may have. You can also call me or one of my colleagues for a free chat to see if we can help or feel free to come into the office to see us.

Have you been prosecuted for a crime that you did not commit? Would you like to know more about compensation. My name is Andrew Guile and I am a Solicitor and Director at GN Law and I have specialized in pursuing complaints and compensation claims against the Police for the last 20 years.

Today I am going to talk about malicious prosecution claims.

In order to succeed in a claim for malicious prosecution you need to establish the following:-

That you were prosecuted - you need to have been charged with a criminal offence and taken to Court.
That the prosecution was determined in your favour - you need to prove that you were acquitted or that the case was discontinued, that the prosecution was brought without reasonable or probable cause - in other words you need to prove that the Officers in question knew that you were innocent or turned a blind eye to evidence that proved or was likely to prove that you were innocent.
Lastly you need to prove that the prosecution was malicious. This final requirement will look at the actions and the motivations of the Officers involved. It is fair to say that proving malicious prosecutions is not easy. Just because you are innocent of a crime and you have been acquitted does not mean that you were maliciously prosecuted.

Most of these types of claims allege malice against Police Officers, however, it is possible to bring a malicious prosecution claim against an individual if that person knowingly causes you to be arrested and prosecuted with their evidence and their evidence alone. Such cases are complicated and further detail is beyond the scope of this video. This is just a brief outline of the issues that need to be considered when looking at malicious prosecution claims. I consider the damages that a person may receive as a result of such claims in another video.

Please take a look at the other videos on this site as they may answer other questions that you have or give me or my colleagues for a free chat to see if we can help.

What are the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards?? When and how should they be used?

My name is Maria Nicholas. I am a solicitor and a director at GN Law. I head our Court of Protection department and specialise in mental capacity law. In this video, I’m going to talk about the deprivation of liberty safeguards.

The idea behind the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards? (commonly known as DOLS) is that they are there to protect vulnerable adults who lack the capacity to make a decision about where they should be living.

DOLS will apply where there is an adult who lacks capacity to decide where to live, and they are being deprived of their liberty. Most commonly this situation will arise where the person is living in a care home due, for example, to dementia or a learning disability, but it also arises in hospital settings.

To determine if the person who lacks capacity is deprived of their liberty, you need to ask two questions. Firstly, is the person subject to continuous supervision and control? Secondly, is the person free to leave? If they are subject to continuous supervision and control and they are not free to leave, they are being deprived of their liberty.

A deprivation of liberty needs to be authorised in order to be legal, otherwise it will be an unlawful deprivation, and in breach of that person’s right to liberty under the European Convention on Human Rights. Such a situation can be challenged in court.

A deprivation can be authorised by the court, or by the DOLS. The care home should apply to its supervisory body to request authority for the deprivation of liberty.

The idea is that this offers protection to the vulnerable adult, because there is then something concrete in place which can be appealed against, and which has to be regularly reviewed. Not authorising a deprivation of liberty means that there is nothing formal to challenge, and no obligations on the care home or local authority to review the situation to see if it is still proportionate, and in that person’s best interests. It will also mean that the deprived person becomes entitled to non-means tested legal aid.

This is only a flavour of what the deprivation of liberty safeguards are. There are many cases on the subject, and ongoing changes to the law, with the entire regime due for review by the Law Commission. We will keep you updated as the law develops.

Do call me or one of my colleagues, for a free chat to see if we can help or if you have any questions or concerns.

Call Maria Nicholas or Natasha Hejabizadeha on 0208 492 2290

We hope that you have found this video helpful. This video is designed to be a brief introduction to the topic that it covers. It aims to be informative and to assist people to take the next step in solving the legal problem that they may have. This video does not constitute legal advice and does not seek to solve specific legal issues. If you have a specific legal problem that you need solved, you should take expert legal advice from a solicitor.