Getting older brings a set of legal questions most people put off until something forces the issue.
If you are sorting out your own affairs while you are well able to, or stepping in to help a parent who has started to struggle, you are doing a sensible thing at a difficult time.
Solicitors for the elderly concentrate on the legal questions that come with getting older: wills, trusts, a Lasting Power of Attorney, deputyship, paying for care, and protecting someone vulnerable from financial abuse. The work is also called later-life law. It usually involves the whole family, not only the person whose affairs are being put in order.
We are a private client firm in North Harrow and this is most of what we do. Fees are published further down this page, and if you cannot get to us, we will come to you.
What solicitors specialising in elderly care help with
Most people arrive with one worry and discover it is connected to two others. The usual pieces are:
- A will, so that what you own goes where you want it to go.
- A Lasting Power of Attorney, so somebody you trust can act for you if you cannot act for yourself.
- Trusts, where you want to protect something for a particular person or control when they receive it.
- Deputyship and Court of Protection applications, where capacity has already been lost and no power of attorney exists.
- Care funding, including who is expected to pay and what can be challenged.
- Inheritance tax planning, so more of the estate reaches the people you intended.
- Protecting an older person who may be at risk of financial abuse or undue pressure.
Not everybody needs all of it. A good first conversation is usually about working out which of these actually applies to you, and which can wait.
Is "solicitors for the elderly" an official accreditation?
The phrase does two jobs, which is worth knowing if you are comparing firms.
Mostly it is a plain description: a solicitor who works with older clients and knows this area well. That is how it is used on this page.
It is also the former name of a membership organisation. Solicitors for the Elderly changed its name to The Association of Lifetime Lawyers in 2023. Its members are lawyers who specialise in legal services for older and vulnerable people, and you can search them on the Association's own website. Many firms still use the old name, so if you want to check whether a firm holds that membership, search under the current name.
What we can tell you about us: Ash Hill Solicitors Ltd is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 818037, and as an SRA regulated firm we are authorised to carry out reserved probate activities. That matters more than it sounds, because wills and probate are also sold by businesses that are not regulated at all.
Planning ahead: wills, trusts and Lasting Power of Attorney
Almost everything in later-life law is cheaper, quicker and less upsetting when it is done early. A Lasting Power of Attorney is the clearest example.
There are two types, covering health and welfare, and property and financial affairs. You must be 18 or over and you must still have mental capacity when you make it. GOV.UK sets out how to make and register one and states that registering an LPA costs £92 and takes 8 to 10 weeks where there are no mistakes on the form. It cannot be used until it is registered.
The point is not the fee. It is that an LPA is something you can only do while you are still able to, and it is not instant, so leaving it until there is a problem usually means leaving it too late.
We can prepare a will, either or both types of Lasting Power of Attorney, and a trust where one is genuinely useful. Where it is appropriate and the family would prefer it, we can also act as attorney ourselves.
When capacity has already gone: deputyship and the Court of Protection
Sometimes the LPA conversation did not happen in time. That is very common and it is not anybody's failure.
Where somebody can no longer make a particular decision and there is no power of attorney in place, a family member usually applies to the Court of Protection to be appointed as their deputy. GOV.UK confirms that where a lasting or enduring power of attorney already exists, a deputy is not usually needed, which is the whole argument for acting early, put more plainly than we could put it.
| Lasting Power of Attorney | Deputyship | |
|---|---|---|
| When you can do it | Only while the person still has mental capacity | After capacity has already been lost |
| Who chooses | The person, while they still can | The Court of Protection decides |
| Types | Health and welfare; property and financial affairs | Personal welfare; property and financial affairs |
| Ongoing court involvement | None once registered | Supervised, with reporting duties |
| Our fee | £850 + VAT + disbursements per type | £3,500 + VAT for a standard application |
The cost difference in that last row is the honest case for doing it early, and it is the firm's own published fee on both sides rather than an estimate. If you are already past that point, our deputyship solicitors in Harrow deal with these applications regularly and can explain what a deputy is actually required to do.
Paying for care
Care costs are usually the thing families are most anxious about and least clear on. There is more than one route, and which one applies depends entirely on the person's health, needs and finances:
- NHS Continuing Healthcare funding
- NHS funded nursing care contributions
- Local authority funding following a financial assessment
- Local authority "top up" or third party top up fees
- Self-funding
We can work out which of these is in play, explain what the local authority is and is not entitled to ask for, advise on challenging a decision that looks wrong, and look at how care fees sit alongside your wider estate planning. Entitlement depends heavily on individual circumstances, so this page deliberately does not quote thresholds. That is a conversation, not a table.
Protecting an older person from financial abuse
If you are worried that an older relative, friend or neighbour is being pressured over money, having decisions made for them, or being taken advantage of, that is something a solicitor can help with rather than something you have to be certain about first.
We can advise on protecting assets, on what an attorney or deputy is permitted to do and what they are not, and on what to do where you think somebody has overstepped. You do not need proof to ask the question.
Advice for adult children arranging a parent's affairs
Often the person reading this page is not the person whose affairs need sorting.
If you are trying to help a parent, the hardest part is usually not the paperwork. It is raising the subject at all, and then raising it again. The conversation tends to go better when somebody outside the family is in the room, because it stops being one relative telling another what to do.
We are used to that role. We can meet you together or separately, we will explain the options to your parent directly rather than talking over them, and we will not push anybody into signing anything they are not comfortable with. The decision stays theirs, which is both the law and the right way round.
Coming to you: home, hospital and hospice visits
If travelling is difficult because of age, illness, disability, a hospital stay or hospice care, we will come to you. A home, hospital or hospice visit is £550 + VAT plus an initial consultation fee of £250 + VAT.
If you would rather come to us, our office is in North Harrow, a few minutes from North Harrow underground station, with disabled parking directly outside the door and a lift up to the meeting rooms. We can print documents in larger type, go at whatever pace suits you, and put things in writing afterwards so nobody has to remember it all. Between us we speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and basic Arabic.
What it costs
Fees for the most common later-life work, published so you can see them before you call:
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Single will | £350 + VAT |
| Mirror wills, for a couple | £650 + VAT |
| Lasting Power of Attorney, health and welfare | £850 + VAT + disbursements |
| Lasting Power of Attorney, property and financial affairs | £850 + VAT + disbursements |
| Standard deputyship application | £3,500 + VAT |
| Home, hospital or hospice visit | £550 + VAT plus an Initial consultation fee of £250 + VAT |
These are guide fees under SRA price transparency rules. A more complicated matter can cost more, and we will tell you that at the start rather than at the end. Our full fee list covers everything else.
Common questions
Do I need a solicitor for this, or could I do it myself?
You can do a lot of it yourself, and for a straightforward situation that may be the right answer. People usually come to us for one of three reasons: they do not want the responsibility of getting it wrong, the family situation is complicated, or they want an independent person to confirm their parent understood what they signed.
What happens if I can no longer make my own decisions?
If you have a registered Lasting Power of Attorney, the attorneys you chose can act for you within the powers you gave them. If you do not, somebody will usually have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as your deputy, which takes longer, costs more and means the court chooses rather than you.
What happens if I need to go into a care home?
Several funding routes may apply, including NHS Continuing Healthcare, NHS funded nursing care, and local authority funding after a financial assessment. Which applies depends on health needs and finances. We can work out which route fits, what the local authority may properly ask of your family, and whether a decision is worth challenging.
Why choose a solicitor who works with older clients?
Because the pace and the practicalities matter as much as the law. That means unhurried meetings, documents in larger type where it helps, visiting you if you cannot travel, explaining things without jargon, and speaking to the person whose affairs they are rather than around them.
Can you visit me at home, in hospital or in a hospice?
Yes. If age, illness, disability, a hospital stay or hospice care makes travelling difficult, we will come to you, currently £550 + VAT. We regularly visit clients across Pinner, Stanmore and Kenton, out towards Ruislip, Northwood, Hillingdon and Uxbridge, across to Edgware, Mill Hill and Hendon, down through Wembley and Alperton, over to Greenford, Northolt and Ealing, and north into Bushey, Watford and Rickmansworth. This is often the practical difference between something getting sorted and it being put off again, particularly where time matters.
