Herald - Issue 410

v THE HERALD - Your Community Magazine v 5th August 2021 • The HERALD • Page 59 LJM Bookkeeping Services I provide a range of accounting and business services to individuals, partnerships, charities and small businesses. I am licenced through the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers for the following services. Bookkeeping, Computerised Accounting Software, Final Year End Accounts, Payroll Management, CIS, VAT, Self Assessment Tax for Individuals and Construction Industry Scheme, Statutory Accounts for Small Businesses including Corporation Tax and related submissions, Holiday cover can also be provided for, hourly rates charged. Please contact Lynda McIntyre Email:  ljmbookkeepingservices@gmail.com Telephone: 07774 790543 ASK A PROFESSIONAL e release from COVID-19 restrictions is nally here – dubbed ‘Freedom Day’. e news is full of the fallout from the past 17 months. One concern I have seen on the rise is scams. A di culty of the restrictions has been the lack of face to face meetings. We are being asked on a mounting basis to deal with our nances over the phone or online. e problem is how do we know what is legitimate and what is a scam. I have personally received text messages about a delayed parcel asking me to log my details online. e hook for the scam is that they happen to have sent it to me when I was indeed expecting a parcel from the same delivery company. As scams are so prevalent I contacted the company direct who were able to con rm it was not legitimate. I was lucky but as a Scam Champion with Friends Against Scams I am privy to a multitude of scams targeting vulnerable individuals. Nothing distresses me more as a professional than when a client contacts me informing me they have fallen victim to a scam. I and a number of my colleagues have noted an increase in clients contacting us for help and guidance when they have been sold a legal product by an unregulated company, that they did not understand or need. Adverts for ‘Family Protection Trusts’ are becoming common. e advert usually states that’s putting your property into such a trust is the best way to protect your home from care fees and inheritance tax. e property is o en placed into the names of adult children and the original owner of the property remains living in the house. A major problem with such trusts is it does not actually provide the protection o ered. When care fees are assessed, the local authority will look into any gi of the property that the person requiring care used to own. If the local authority can prove that a person deliberately deprived themselves of an assets to avoid care home fees the consequences can be severe. ey may ask a court to reverse the gi back to the original owner so they can call upon the funds. ey may also penalise the person found to have deliberately deprived themselves so they are entitled to no nancial assistance to help with care fees until they have no nancial assets le . It is o en when a client wants to move closer to family or downsize that they realise they no longer own their property and understand they have lost control. In one matter I have dealt with, a couple owned two investment properties and their matrimonial home. ey were encouraged under the trust scheme by such a company to place all three properties into separate trusts. e couple only realised later that they had lost the right to claim the income from the rented out properties as these now belonged to the Trust. is money was supposed to be their income in their retirement but instead in order to make the gi work on paper they lost all the income. e clients received minimal advice at the outset and were not aware that this would have been a consequence of the transfers. Years of retirement planning wasted due to inadequate advice. A complaint came to nothing as the company simply pointed to signed terms of business which the couple had signed but admitted they did not understand. On checking the terms these advised against the transfer and that the company did not provide tax advice, only the practical service of the transfers. If you are considering legal work consider carefully who you instruct to handle your legal a airs. A decision made in haste could cost you dearly. A professional handling your a airs should not rush you into making any decision and should carefully explain to you the consequences, good and bad, of any legal transaction. As the company mentioned above was unregulated for the work completed, the couple had no recourse to higher professional body and had to bear the costs of resolving the matter requiring the sale of one of the properties. Lindsay Taylor is an Associate Solicitor based at our Covid-secure Hythe O ce. For your conveyancing and private client needs you can contact CGM Solicitors on: 023 8084 2765 for an appointment. The Rise of Scams by CGM Solicitors