Help & Advice
This is a brief introduction to the many types of help which The Friendly Trust can offer. We have more detailed leaflets on some of the help we can give but if you come to us for a service it will be individually made for you. Please get in touch if you would like more information.

Court of Protection Advice
The Friendly Trust offers advice to people who “lack capacity”, as defined by the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and to their families and carers dealing with The Court of Protection. We can explain the procedures and systems of the Court of Protection, which is now part of the Ministry of Justice, and help with correspondence and the completion of forms.
Welfare Benefits Advice
The Friendly Trust offers advice on which benefits you are entitled to and how changes in circumstances may affect your entitlement. We can support you to fill out the necessary forms and to appeal against any decisions which seem to have been worked out wrongly and may be unfair.

Budgeting
The Friendly Trust can support you if you need help with your money, to make sure bills are paid and other financial commitments met. You can visit the office and meet with a Trust Officer to plan and help you decide how best to manage your living expenses. We can give advice on how to open a bank account to keep your money secure and easy for you to access.

Wills and Trusts
The Friendly Trust offers advice to people who receive money (“beneficiaries”) from some types of trust funds or legacies. We can help open a bank account to manage such funds. We can advise on the effect a trust might have on benefit entitlement; on managing the money and on budgeting. If a large sum is involved we will seek investment advice for you from an Independent Financial Advisor.
If parents and carers wish to benefit a person who lacks mental capacity in their will, we can advise how this might be done without affecting the beneficiary’s means tested benefits. We have a leaflet about discretionary trusts which deals with this in more detail.
The Friendly Trust can support disabled people who only have a limited amount of money to write their will.

If you want to discuss the Friendly Trust acting as Appointee for you or someone else, or have any questions please
get in touch.