to feel like im going mad- paraplegic brother and financial madness

[heraldgerald]

Please help. I know no one else in this position and no idea what to do.

Long story very short- my brother had a motorcycle accident 16 years ago and was awarded 1 million pounds compensation. We were told this would support him for life, at the time he was 23. His money was put into trust, under the court of protection, and a lay deputy, a solicitors firm, were appointed. They charged 60k per year in fees. a company were appointed by the solicitors to arrange and recruit carers. They charged 30k per year. my brothers investments, organised by the solicitors were decimated in 2008. the family understood that we were not allowed to act as lay deputy nor invest his money for him as he is deemed legally incapable and we would be in a position to exploit him. He has now very nearly run out of money, and my aging mother has now taken over as lay deputy and recruitment, but this was only deemed a viable option, we were told by the solicitors, once it became clear he had no more money to pay the fees.

I should say that all the information I get is through my mother who finds it all overwhelming and complicated.

aibu to think this has been a gross mismanagement of his finances?

Ps I have tried previously to take a more front seat role in this, but my mother who is controlling at the best of times, simply will not let me. She blames herself for what happened to him in some ways and has vert complex feelings about this.

60k a year in fees??

Yes, it does sound like there has been a gross mismanagement of his finances. I have no idea where you would go for help and advice though, maybe the spinal injuries association could point you in the right direction if they come across anything like this before.

Thanks woo. Thats a lead I could pursue.

Didn't want your post to go unanswered. Were the carers paid out of the 30k too? Or was that company paid 30k a year just to recruit the carers?

And 60k a year in fees sounds excessive to me too.

You need legal advice. The fees sound extortionate and even without the msrket crash, would have burned through the money really quickly.

One of the disability charities might be able to advise you.

Sorry you are dealing with this, it must be really difficult for you, your mum and your brother :(

Thanks for support , much appreciated. No the career s are paid by the council. That's just recruitment and management. Sickening.

That's awful, I'd be seeing another solicitor and querying this.

Thanks smo. Sorry you are going through this too. The solicitor s would always say there was more work than they expected.

You really need to get some legal advice. Sounds like your brother has a professional negligence claim.

I would assume that the solicitors retained a firm of investment advisors to recommend an appropriate investment strategy. For a person in your brothers position, with no capacity to replace lost capital, that strategy should have been quite risk adverse. you say that his investments were decimated which suggests that the investments were of a higher risk than they should have been. If the lawyers didn't spot the losses and let the strategy continue without question then they may also have a negligence case to answer.

where abouts in the UK are you OP? I might be able to recommend you a firm that could help.

That's amazing thank you. My brother and mum are London based but I'm hampshire

Thanks smo. I do think that it is so bewildering you have to trust the solicitors, it's a dreadful situation to be in and I think it is possible to be, how shall I say, encouraged to not understand the details.

It sounds excessive to me. I can't be too specific but £60,000 a year in my sector and location is the sort of fee income which a substantial family business might run up on the basis I and other specialists would expect to hear from them at least once a week every week. Whilst we're not employees the service we provide is an integral part of making their business work.

What did they do for this?

Wow. Certainly not that as far as i understand, but they were involved in every single financial transaction in the form of approving any expenditure, including allowing my brother to spend close to 800 pounds per month on neuro physio.

And for that we would be advising on property management, leases, tenancies, title issues, employment, trust and tax.

That's insane! £1mill divided by £60k per yr would be gone in 16 yrs, ignoring interest income and the care "management" costs.

Your mother needs to take steps now, even if its overwhelming. Start with a complaint to the solicitors requiring them to account for the £1million in fees that they have had in 16 years.

A partner in a NW law firm would charge around £200 per hour plus Vat so would need to spend 250 hours a year dealing with it at current Vat rates to clock up £60k. What the fuck do they need to do for 4.8 hours a week for 16 years?

You could query this with The Court of Protection. My understanding is that they are supposed to make sure that people's money is not mismanaged.

Wow. Nothing like that.

Stiff sink excellent calculations. The partner did take a great personal interest in d b s affairs I must say.

It feels like a really horrible, sick gravy train.

And when I say act now, I mean NOW! If there was knowledge of a potential claim in 2008, the limitation period may have expired for a claim against the solicitors.

S m o, well done for being savvy. It's vital. Yes I could contAct c of p but no idea how. How stupid is that.

Stiff I will. Need to coax dm. But will.