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Personal injury trusts
A personal injury award is important for making sure you and your family get the support you need following a personal injury or medical negligence. Our Court of Protection lawyers can help you set up and run a Personal Injury Trust to ensure your money is protected.
What is a Personal injury trust?
A personal injury trust is an arrangement where your trustees hold a personal injury award on your behalf. It normally acts as a form of financial protection to individuals who have capacity and therefore are not under the Court of Protection. One advantage of a personal injury trust is so that you can retain your entitlement to means tested benefits. This allows you to protect the damages you’ve received following a personal injury claim. If money is needed from the trust, the trustees must agree to its release.
Trustees are normally close friends and relatives. Many people also choose to have a lawyer as one of their trustees because an independent party can take an objective view if issues arise as to how the trust fund is spent.
Can I protect my benefits if I receive compensation for an injury?
Yes, it is possible to ring fence personal injury compensation so that it is excluded from any assessment of entitlement to means tested benefits. This can be achieved either by virtue of an award being held by a deputy under the authority of the Court of Protection, or by being placed in a Personal Injury Trust.
How our Court of Protection lawyers can help with Personal injury trusts
Our team will be able to:
- Advise you of the options and whether a personal injury trust is right for you
- Set up a trust
- Draft the trust deed
- Advise on who to appoint as trustees
- Act as a professional trustee and manage the day-to-day running of the trust
- Appoint new trustees
- Assist in the removal of existing trustees.
Our Court of Protection and trust management expertise
We have one of the largest specialist Court of Protection teams in the country and a dedicated Trust Management team. We have the expertise and resources to deal with any matters concerning setting up and operating personal injury trusts on behalf of injured and vulnerable clients.
We are highly regarded experts with many years of experience between us and we regularly receive direct referrals from other solicitors, barristers and professionals including case managers.
Our specialist Court of Protection team will give straightforward, practical advice and have the experience to ensure they secure the best possible outcome for the person who has received the personal injury award.
The team stand out for their complete attention to detail, particularly the small details that matter so much to the client, and their efficiency and decisiveness. – Chambers UK 2026
How we can help
We have one of the largest dedicated Court of Protection & deputyship teams in the country. We offer an efficient, personal and tailored service of a quality that few firms undertaking this work are able to provide.
Our team of highly regarded Court of Protection lawyers, based in Kent, have many years of experience between us, and we regularly receive direct referrals from other solicitors, barristers and professionals.
We provide straightforward, practical advice and have the skills and experience to ensure that the right decisions are made. We liaise with family, friends and care professionals and handle each situation with a high level of care and sensitivity
We have particular experience in dealing with issues related to brain and birth injuries and managing large personal injury or clinical negligence awards. We work closely with our specialist Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence teams. We also manage the affairs of many elderly clients with dementia.
Our specialist team of Court of Protection lawyers can help to:
- Explain the Court of Protection rules and options and guide you through the entire process
- Help you apply to have a deputy appointed for a relative or friend
- Act as a deputy for you, a relative or friend who lacks capacity
- Help existing deputies make applications (e.g. for gifts, wills and property transactions)
- Offer practical legal advice in your later life
- Prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney and advice donors and attorneys
- Set up a personal injury trust
- Act in contentious litigation situations e.g. where an application is contested
- Act as an expert witness for litigation lawyers when considering past and future professional costs.
Accreditations & awards
The outstanding team at Thomson Snell & Passmore continues to advise on complex capacity issues. It is renowned for its expertise in property and affairs cases, especially involving high-value catastrophic injury claims. Brian Bacon, who has been described as a ‘legend in this field’ is regularly instructed to act as an expert witness by leading personal injury and clinical negligence firms, case managers and leading silks. – The Legal 500 2026