Kathryn

Kathryn Sykes

Consultant – Wills, Probate, Trusts & Powers of Attorney

T: 020 3239 3239 | E: kss@austenjonessolicitors.co.uk

A valuable addition to our Wills, Trusts and Probate team, Kathryn has particular expertise in helping clients with issues that affect their capacity, such as dementia, autism and learning difficulties.

Her broad experience, along with her friendliness and approachability, have seen her build up a large and loyal base of clients and she regularly advises them on issues including:

• Lasting Powers of Attorney
• Court of Protection
• Trusts – preparation and management
• Employment, Health & Care Plans and Special Educational Needs Tribunals
• Local Authority & NHS Funding for Care
• Estate Planning – Care Fees / Inheritance Tax / Protection of Vulnerable Beneficiaires
• Wills & Probate
• Benefits Appeals

Much of Kathryn’s work is repeat business or comes from word-of-mouth recommendations. Clients may initially come to see her as their child has Special Educational Needs and they’re being assessed for an Education, Health & Care Plan and need advice and support.  The parents then return so she can take care of their estate planning to protect their vulnerable child’s inheritance, often by use of specialist trusts.  She then makes Lasting Powers of Attorney for the child when they reach 18, if they have the capacity, or a Court of Protection application if they don’t.

Meanwhile, she may also be helping the grandparents with Inheritance Tax and care fee planning as well as making Lasting Powers of Attorney for them in case they lose mental or physical capacity in the future.  The grandparents may then go into care, at which point she helps their family with Local Authority and NHS Funding for care. Finally, when the grandparents pass away, she deals with the administration of their estate.

Kathryn recognises that many older or vulnerable clients need support but don’t necessarily have people in their circle who can provide it. So she often takes on the role of Attorney (or Deputy) for them, building a close bond with those clients that lasts for many years.

Legal training and experience

Kathryn’s career in the law began over twenty years ago when she studied at the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) while working full time in a Wills, Trust & Probate Department. Two years into the course, she began to specialise in Wills, trust and probate matters, qualifying as a Chartered Legal Executive in 2004.

She further expanded her specialisations in 2002 when she moved into Older & Vulnerable Client Law and joined Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) – initially as an associate member but then progressing through the grades to become a fully accredited member. During this period, Kathryn says she attended every course that she could find that covered any aspect of the law that might affect her elderly or vulnerable clients.

While on maternity leave with her eldest son, she began to study for the Trust & Estate Practitioner Diploma with the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) which led to an additional qualification as Trust & Estate Practitioner.  A few years later she studied the Contentious Trust & Probate Diploma with the Association of Contentious Trust & Probate Practitioners (ACTAPS) and then in 2016 trained as a SEND Tribunal Representative with IPSEA (Independent Parental Special Education Advice). In between these various qualifications Kathryn directed her studies to learning more about the issues affecting her older and vulnerable clients, especially dementia, autism and ADAH. And in 2013 she completed the Dementia Friends training, with a refresher in 2018.

Qualifications

• Bsc (Hons), FCILEx, TEP
• Chartered Legal Executive
• Trust & Estate Practitioner
• Fully Accredited Member of Solicitors for the Elderly