Looking after your financial future

Serious spinal injuries are often life-altering, causing various levels of paralysis and affecting respiration, limb movement, bowel control, and sexual function.

The type of spinal cord injury you have suffered is likely to determine how much recovery you will be able to make and how much ongoing treatment, rehabilitation and personal care you might need.

However, it is not an easy process to work out how much a spinal injury patient's recovery is likely to progress or deteriorate and it's important that the financial settlement claim takes this into consideration. As a result, Thompsons' serious injury solicitors will seek to secure an initial settlement for known injuries and, if your condition worsens in the future, this will enable us to return to court to make a further claim for compensation in relation to any new symptoms which have arisen as a result of the original injury.

Personal injury trusts to keep you financially secure

Spinal injury compensation settlements typically involve significant amounts of money that take into account the life-altering and debilitating nature of the claimant's injury. As such, the Thompsons's service goes beyond merely helping you to receive spinal injury compensation – we are also experienced in helping our clients manage their compensation settlement sums through personal injury trusts.

By setting up a personal injury trust, funds from a damages award can be held in a different way to other ownership models. A personal injury trust is a legal instrument which allows the money to be held on behalf of a person (the beneficiary) and managed by someone else (a trustee or trustees).

There are numerous benefits of using a personal injury trust to manage funds following a substantial settlement award. For instance:

• funds remain the property of the claimant but are managed by a trusted, responsible person on their behalf
• trustees must agree that there is a good reason for withdrawal of funds before any money is released
• tax benefits
• holding sums in a personal injury trust may enable the beneficiary to keep certain benefits

Setting up a personal injury trust

The injured person can be the settlor (person who puts funds into the trust, trustee (person who manages the funds), and beneficiary (the person who benefits from the assets held in trust).

If the injured person is a trustee, there will need to be at least one other trustee appointed to ensure the funds are managed appropriately. All trustees are duty-bound to act in the best interests of the beneficiary and have authority to deal with the assets held in trust (money, property etc).

We recommend that a personal injury trust is set up as soon as possible after a settlement award is received and hopefully within a year. From the moment compensation (including interim payments) is received, there is a 52-week period during which the money is not included in any means-testing for benefits or Universal Credit.

There are strict rules about setting up a personal injury trust, so it's important to get expert advice so that everything is put in place and managed correctly.

Talk to Thompsons today about how we can assist you in setting up a personal injury trust.

Other ways Thompsons can help to keep you financially secure

As well as helping you set up a personal injury trust following a spinal injury compensation claim, Thompsons can help arrange free impartial financial advice and assist you if you need to write a Will.

To find out how Thompsons' service extends beyond merely securing you the compensation you deserve, talk to Thompsons today - we are experts in complex claims and all that they entail for you and your family.

Call 0800 0891 331 and we can make sure you speak to the right person for your needs.