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.

What amount of compensation might you receive if you have been assaulted, maliciously prosecuted or falsely imprisoned.

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 how compensation is calculated in Police cases.

What is my claim worth?
How much compensation you are entitled to as a result of an incident with the police depends upon what happened to you and what the effects are upon you. In this video I am going to look at the main areas of compensation. I will consider damages for assault and physical and psychiatric injury, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and trespass.
If you have been assaulted the damages you receive depend upon the severity of your physical or psychological injury and how long those injuries last for. If your injuries are more than minor you will need a medical report to comment on the extent of those injuries. Only then will a lawyer be able to put a value on that aspect of your claim.
In false imprisonment cases the value of your case depends upon how long you are detained. In most cases where someone is falsely imprisoned that detention will be in a police station. In such cases the first hour is worth approximately £700 with subsequent hours being worth less and the first 24 hours being worth approximately £4,200. Most people are detained for less than 24 hours following arrest but cases where people are detained for longer than 24 hours will be worth more. Other types of false imprisonment, for instance where someone is released late from a prison, are calculated in a different way and in all such cases it is wise to take legal advice.
Malicious prosecution claims are worth within the region of £2,800 - £14,000. Whether you receive a sum towards the bottom or the top of that bracket depends upon the severity of the charges and whether or not you face going to prison if convicted. It also depends upon how long the case goes on for and whether or not you were remanded in custody and what, if any, additional losses you suffered.
A trespass to your house where officers enter without lawful authority is worth in the region of £500 - £1,500 depending on the time of day, how the officers behaved and whether any children were present. All of the above areas of damage make up what is known as the basic award. This award can be further increased by aggravated damages which can as much double the basic award in certain circumstances.
For example, if you are arrested without any reasonable suspicion that you have committed an offence you would have been unlawfully arrested and you will be entitled to damages for false imprisonment. That will be worth a certain amount of money even though the police officers involved were nice to you. However, if those same police officers racially abuse you, strip search you for no reason, leave you in a cold cell and do not bring you any food and drink then those aggravating factors will entitle you to aggravated damages which will increase the basic award. Aggravated damages are considered separately on each head of claim.
There is also an area of damages known as exemplary damages. These further increase the basic award and aggravated damages that you might have already been awarded. Exemplary damages are there to punish the police where their actions are found to be oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional. Every case is different. The police will rarely agree to pay exemplary damages as part of an out of court settlement and it is fair to say that they are only rarely awarded by Judges however, where granted they are usually significant in value and can range from approximately £7,000 - £70,000.
Whether you receive exemplary damages or not and if you do, how much, will depend upon the facts of your case including the seniority of the officer or officers involved. Remember, no two cases are the same and the question of what damages you receive can be much more complex than I have summarised for you today.

Please take a look at the other videos on this site as they may answer other questions that you have or give me or any of my colleagues a call 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.