Did you hear about this dreadful story?

It was all over the news recently, and was featured on BBC Inside Out East on 12 November.

An Ipswich inheritance planning firm called Universal Wealth promised to help people avoid care home fees and inheritance tax by putting their home into a Trust run by the company.

But the business ran into trouble. Late last year, they laid off dozens of staff. In April, two people connected with the company were arrested under suspicion of fraud. (They were released, but are still under Police investigation.) Now, the firm has collapsed, their offices stand empty, and 100 staff have lost their jobs.

More importantly, some of their clients have lost their life savings, and at least 140 people have contacted Action Fraud.

What can you learn from this?

The main lesson is that it’s important to seek specialist help otherwise you might get caught out. For that, you need a solicitor.

Be aware that any individual solicitor can’t possibly know everything. As the largest firm in the area, we have solicitors who specialise in different areas of law.

Our experts on Wills, Trusts and Inheritance Tax Planning include Coral Milborrow, Huw Wyn Williams and Sian Danford.

Our other specialist solicitor in this area is Kate Handel who is currently on maternity leave after her gorgeous baby, Hannah, was born in July. Kate will be back in March.