help please with Universal Wealth preservation Trust

Malthusian · 29 June 2018 at 9:12AM

le_loup wrote: »

…………. so that I could pay for their care costs rather than their children!

Rather than they themselves, you mean. Children don't pay for their parents' care costs unless they choose to.

If money you are due to inherit is used to buy something, it is not a cost to you. No more than any other money which someone could give to you but chooses not to.

Barker_Gotelee · 29 June 2018 at 9:38AM

Not_out_running wrote: »

We would like to know how the other people who started sooner with similar processes are getting on, as so far their solicitor has had attempts to make contact with Mr Long or his companies rebuffed, and they don't have access to their full Trust documentation.

Malthusian wrote: »

My understanding is that removing the Longs or Universal Wealth as trustees from these trusts will require court action and a ruling from a judge. It's likely to take several months just to get a court date. If Steven Long decides to string it out, it could take years before Universal Wealth is removed as trustees. So no, I think it is extremely unlikely that there are any happy ex-Universal victims yet.

Hi All

In the majority of cases, removing Universal/Steven and Melanie Long should be relatively straightforward. We as a firm have successfully done this for a number of clients and have advised other solicitors on the best way forward. We have not needed to make contact with Universal or Steven and Melanie Long, however this will depend on the terms of your trust deeds.

Updating the land registry is the next step and we have applications pending. I understand that others have already been successful.

Some clients have found the trusts have been very beneficial to them and others have chosen not to keep the trusts. It really depends on why they were set up, the advice that was received at the time and the circumstances. There are many reasons why people may set up trusts like this.

In regards to 'happy' Universal clients, I suspect that no clients are going to be truly happy as they have had to incur extra expense in removing the trustees, however yes, some have successfully done this at relatively low cost and some have gained benefits from the trusts they set up.

The first step is to seek advice directly from a legal professional. I would recommend taking unregulated firms with a pinch of salt and making sure that your solicitor is confident they can advise you properly.

On a related note, I have heard reference to firms encouraging class actions to recover original documents held at Universal's former premises, Dencora House, including reference to a court order to gain forced entry to the building. For the avoidance of doubt, those of us in contact with Suffolk Police will know that the documents are no long held at Dencora House; this was a rented building which the landlord would clearly have required back after the rent stopped being paid. The documents which were in Dencora House have been secured and works are underway to determine how best to proceed with these. Please note that we do not hold your documents at this time.

A solicitor with experience regarding trusts and property will be able to advise you on the best way to proceed without access to the original documents. So far, we have experienced few difficulties as a result of not being able to obtain the original documents.

Kind regards

Becky

le_loup · 29 June 2018 at 10:53AM

Malthusian wrote: »

Rather than they themselves, you mean. Children don't pay for their parents' care costs unless they choose to.

No. Either the parent pays the cost and the child doesn't inherit or the child inherits and I pay the cost. So the child would pay the cost in the form of a reduced inheritance if the "scheme" worked as advertised.

Dennis_Jenkins · 6 July 2018 at 9:43PM

Like others on this site, I was also taken in by Universal in 2013. I discovered things were not quite right when I saw some reviews and comments about not being able to contact Universal directly so it was then that I sent an email after seeing the notice on their website about scaling down the business. They said that if I wanted impartial information, I could contact Cohen Knights which I duly did as at the time there seemed no other possibilities and I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on. At Universal,our house was in a family trust with the Longs as trustees. We also have a deed of variation trust of which we are the trustees, also Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney but no money(fortunately) went into the trust.
To cut a long story short, Cohen Knights have been very helpful in sorting out the problems. They first did a review of all our documents and said all seemed in order except for the Longs as being Trustees. So after numerous phone conversations and e mails, they have removed the Longs as Trustees and replaced myself, my wife and my son as the new trustees and have sent us the new Land Registry Document with us on as the new trustees. They have also sent us all of the original trust documents and the wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney so we now(I hope!) are in full control.
Obviously, there has been a cost to doing this and I know that Cohen Knights were initially using the same premises as Universal but at the time, I felt I had no other option and to be fair, they did say that other firms could also do the job if I wanted.
In conclusion, I have found them very helpful.

Doc_N · 6 July 2018 at 11:08PM

Dennis_Jenkins wrote: »

Like others on this site, I was also taken in by Universal in 2013. I discovered things were not quite right when I saw some reviews and comments about not being able to contact Universal directly so it was then that I sent an email after seeing the notice on their website about scaling down the business. They said that if I wanted impartial information, I could contact Cohen Knights which I duly did as at the time there seemed no other possibilities and I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on. At Universal,our house was in a family trust with the Longs as trustees. We also have a deed of variation trust of which we are the trustees, also Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney but no money(fortunately) went into the trust.
To cut a long story short, Cohen Knights have been very helpful in sorting out the problems. They first did a review of all our documents and said all seemed in order except for the Longs as being Trustees. So after numerous phone conversations and e mails, they have removed the Longs as Trustees and replaced myself, my wife and my son as the new trustees and have sent us the new Land Registry Document with us on as the new trustees. They have also sent us all of the original trust documents and the wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney so we now(I hope!) are in full control.
Obviously, there has been a cost to doing this and I know that Cohen Knights were initially using the same premises as Universal but at the time, I felt I had no other option and to be fair, they did say that other firms could also do the job if I wanted.
In conclusion, I have found them very helpful.

I see that you joined MSE today just to post this. No problem with that, of course, but you'll forgive me if I just comment that it does read just a tad like an advertisement for Cohen Knights.

I'm sure Cohen Knights are fine people, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, are they not completely unregulated? They're not solicitors, are they? Or members of any regulating body? Do you know anything about them at all, because they seem to have no track record, and they just seemed to appear when Universal disappeared - at the same address, I believe?

As I say, I'm sure they're fine people, whoever they are, but are you really suggesting that anybody who finds themselves in this mess should use anybody other than a solicitor or similarly regulated person to sort it all out?

You're not in any way connected with them, are you?

Dennis_Jenkins · 7 July 2018 at 1:05PM

I apologise if my entry sounds like an advert for Cohen Knights, it certainly wasn't intended to be and I have no connection with them whatsoever apart for them doing the work for me that I have outlined. I just wanted to let people know that I was also a victim of Universal and at the time Cohen Knights seemed to be the only way forward(there seemed no other option then) as they were able to access my files fairly easily(presumably because some former employees of Universal are at Cohen Knights). The main thing is that I now have all of my original documents and the Longs have been removed as trustees and replaced by myself, my wife and my son.
Another solicitor did write earlier on this site also saying they understood Cohen Knights had been helpful to some clients but I did not wish to promote them, especially as many other firms now appear to be willing to sort out the problems caused by Universal.

Gramacho · 19 July 2018 at 11:59PM

Hi Doc ,
Are you aware the Longs are still attending court on the 21st July in Ipswich .
I haven’t been able to locate any information at all .

Thanks in advance

Peripatetic · 23 July 2018 at 2:46PM

As this date is a Saturday are there any court cases?. Has anybody heard anything?

Twopints · 14 October 2018 at 12:30PM

BBC article

The investigation will be broadcast on BBC Inside Out East on BBC One on Monday at 19:30 BST.

dunstonh · 14 October 2018 at 7:59PM

And once again, we have another thread where regular posters warned about the issues in 2014 but MSE deleted or edited their posts and warned posters not to continue posting about those things. And once again, like other threads, the company is found wanting and consumers being potentially out of pocket.

For a consumer site, MSE doesn't really like protecting consumers.

help please with Universal Wealth preservation Trust

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