help please with Universal Wealth preservation Trust

affinite2

Just an update from me in case its of value to others.

My mother took out a Universal Wealth Preservation Trust in 2015.
Unfortunately we were slow to spot the problems with the original Trust concept and of course with the company in question. Like others, our calls and emails to Universal went unanswered.

Earlier this year we were contacted by Cohen Knight LLP who offered to undertake the legal work necessary to change the names of the Trustees from Universal Trustees to two nominated family members (myself and my brother) and to ensure that the appropriate changes to Land Registry records wrt the ownership of my mothers house were made.

I was aware that the partners/directors at Cohen Knight are ex Universal employees and to be honest I thought at one stage that we may have thrown good money after bad by instructing them but I am now relieved to say that the transfer has now been completed, all original documents (Trust, Will, Power of Attorney) held by Universal group have been returned to us.

Bye the way before someone suggests it, no, I have no connection with Universal Group or Cohen Knight.- just a relieved victim

Doc_N

affinite2 wrote: »

Just an update from me in case its of value to others.

My mother took out a Universal Wealth Preservation Trust in 2015.
Unfortunately we were slow to spot the problems with the original Trust concept and of course with the company in question. Like others, our calls and emails to Universal went unanswered.

Earlier this year we were contacted by Cohen Knight LLP who offered to undertake the legal work necessary to change the names of the Trustees from Universal Trustees to two nominated family members (myself and my brother) and to ensure that the appropriate changes to Land Registry records wrt the ownership of my mothers house were made.

I was aware that the partners/directors at Cohen Knight are ex Universal employees and to be honest I thought at one stage that we may have thrown good money after bad by instructing them but I am now relieved to say that the transfer has now been completed, all original documents (Trust, Will, Power of Attorney) held by Universal group have been returned to us.

Bye the way before someone suggests it, no, I have no connection with Universal Group or Cohen Knight.- just a relieved victim

There was a similar post not so long ago from someone mentioning Cohen Knights in a positive way, though your post does look a little less suspicious than that one did.

Are they not still completely unregulated, though? They're not solicitors, I believe, or members of any regulating body? They still seem to have virtually no track record, and given that they just seemed to appear when Universal disappeared - at the same address - I'd want a lot more reassurance than we currently have. And I'd not deal at all with an unregulated body.

I'm sure they're fine people, whoever they are, but did you take any steps to satisfy yourself as to their trustworthiness? If so, what did you find?

affinite2

Although we have had a good outcome, my post was not an endorsement of Cohen Knight.
My intention was to offer encouragement to others that are still tied up with Universal that some of us at least have been able to extricate ourselves from Mr Longs tentacles. So there is hope!

I think the points you make about using an unregulated practitioner are perfectly valid and we were perhaps naive (again) to have engaged a company who were obviously born out of the ashes of Universal. If you look at the Cohen Knight website, some of the (stock) images are identical to those used in the Universal marketing material !.

Cohen Knights appear to be staffed by ex Universal employees and its interesting that they had access to the Universal client database (otherwise how did they know how to contact us) . Its also interesting that they had access to ,and were able to return, original documents held by Universal to us.

Glen_Clark

I suppose it possible that ex UWP employees hold assets they can't do anything with, so are prepared to return them to their owners, but don't want to do so without another bite at the cherry - more fees.

jimjames

Glen_Clark wrote: »

I suppose it possible that ex UWP employees hold assets they can't do anything with, so are prepared to return them to their owners, but don't want to do so without another bite at the cherry - more fees.

It's surprising and worrying from a Data protection viewpoint if private client files are being passed around between ex-employees and aren't stored securely or centrally anywhere. Might make it even harder for things to be tracked down.

Raymond_Noy

I also went to one of their local seminars a few years ago; I was convinced with what they said and the knowledge and sincerity of their staff. I parted with £5000 but after several months I had cold feet as I seemed to have lost control of a considerable amount of money and liable for fees at every turn of the process. I ask to withdraw and my money back. We agreed a severance fee of £1000 and the return of £4000.

I advise any one in my positiion to do the same; for myself I will never approach any of these companies again, I have learned my lesson. Best Regards, Ray Noy

Doc_N

This might be of interest to anyone trying to remove the delightful Mr and Mrs Long from a family trust:


http://trustsdiscussionforum.co.uk/t/universal-wealth-preservation/6942/3

GippingMan

Steve Long was jailed yesterday for 8 months. Not for criminal charges but for contempt of the High Court.



Strangely enough the police have slowly slumbered into action with the criminal case.

GippingMan

I can't post links but just search daily telegraph steven long jailed

ChesterDog

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/18/alleged-fraudster-promised-pensioners-could-protect-heirs-inheritance/