Our Court of Protection team helped Eva, who has cerebral palsy, set up a personal injury trust, purchase a suitable property and make major renovations to future proof it.
What happened to Eva?
When Eva was born, she experienced a period of acute profound hypoxic ischaemia (lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain). As a result, Eva has cerebral palsy in all four limbs.
How has this impacted Eva’s life?
Eva’s cerebral palsy and upper limb tremor mean she has difficulty carrying things, writing, and performing personal care.
She has difficulty walking outside and will sometimes use a wheelchair when she’s out of the house. Eva’s been told she will be fully wheelchair dependant by the age of 50.
She hasn’t let this stop her, though. Eva was a Britain’s Got Talent finalist for her stand-up comedy, does motivational speaking and does lots of charity work.
Find out more about Eva’s story.
Setting up a personal injury trust for Eva
Alongside Eva’s medical negligence claim, our Court of Protection (CoP) team worked closely with her and her family.
One thing that was crucial, because she’s still a minor, was setting up a personal injury trust. This helps protect the compensation she receives and makes sure it doesn’t impact any means-tested benefits she could be entitled to.
The benefit for Eva is that it allows the professional trustees to support her in making decisions around finances, especially when looking at big purchases. The trustees can sign any legal or technical paperwork on that behalf.
A trust for a minor must be approved by the Court. This involves making an application to the Court for approval to proceed with the trust. We can then enter into a trust alongside Eva’s parents.
When she turns 18, it's then Eva's choice whether she wants to stay within a trust environment or whether she wants to continue with us as a professional trustee. She may just want to continue with her parents, or she may want to have completely new trustees; she can also become a trustee as well.
How else have our Court of Protection team helped Eva?
One of the things our CoP team helped Eva and her family with was renovating the house we helped them buy. Alongside our in-house building consultancy team, we’re helping with a three-phase adaptation project:
- Phase 1 - Garden improvements: Enhancements have been made to the garden to ensure it is more accessible and usable for Eva.
- Phase 2 - Downstairs bedroom works: We’ve created an ensuite and utility room adjoining the downstairs bedroom, allowing Eva easier access to the hot tub, which provides therapeutic benefits.
- Phase 3 – Major renovation: The final stage involves significant construction to create a new wing of the property. This includes adapting the existing double garage into a two-storey annexe. The annexe will enable Eva to remain close to her family while also enjoying a separate and independent living space.
Eva and parents’ feedback
On the work we helped have done to the family home, Eva said: “I love cooking, and I now have an adapted kitchen. I’m also having a wet room built, so I’m now able to do even more than I originally could.”
Kelly, Eva’s mum, spoke about how important we have been to their family: “Irwin Mitchell have been the backbone of our family throughout all of this.
“They supported us with the right accommodation that made things more accessible for Eva. They just gave us things that made our lives and Eva’s life so much easier. They helped with everything.”
Expert opinion
Rachael Oakwood, Senior Associate Solicitor – CoP, said: “Eva’s life should never have been impacted to the level it was because of what happened to her, for me, getting to see Eva thrive not just as a result of her unbreakable spirit and courage but also as a result of her claim being successful has been a really wonderful thing to witness.
“Compensation is there to try and make life as accessible and easy as it possibly can be for the client. We appreciate that money can’t fix what difficult circumstances a client has been through, but what you can do is try to remove some of the limitations that have been put in place as a result of what's happened.
“It's really important to note that when money is awarded, it's based really on how much money is needed for that person to have a good quality of life for their lifetime.
“My advice for parents who feel that they may have been in a similar situation to Kelly and Eva’s is to approach us and ask the question if they think they might have a claim.
“It's sometimes difficult for somebody to know if things did or didn't happen the way that they should have done. We're the experts. We’ve done this for many years and we can support a family in establishing if there was a fault, if things did go wrong and if a claim should be made to try and secure compensation.”
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