Melanie Williams > Freeths LLP > Oxford, England > Lawyer Profile
Freeths LLP Offices
Spires House
5700 Oxford Business Park South
OXFORD
OX4 2RW
England
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Melanie Williams
Work Department
Private client/Court of Protection/personal injury trusts.
Position
Melanie is appointed as a professional property and affairs deputy in the Court of Protection for those with dementia, learning disabilities and acquired brain injury. This role involves taking responsibility for the financial assets of someone who lacks the capacity to make decisions for themselves. Melanie provides advice and support to lay deputies about their ongoing responsibilities. She can advise and assist with property and affairs applications, welfare applications deputyship returns and damages award management. She frequently makes applications to the Court of Protection for a statutory will where somebody cannot make their own will; instructions are taken, often from the deputy or a family member, and a draft of a proposed will is sent to the Court of Protection for approval. Representations may be made to Court by those who will be affected by the new will. Where possible, if all parties can agree, the matter can be concluded without the need for an attended hearing at Court. Melanie also deals with the drafting and administration of personal injury trusts including High Court approved trusts for injured children. She has a special interest in NHS Continuing Healthcare matters and represents clients going through the assessment process. She recently worked with a team of professionals to secure funding for a client with an acquired brain injury, living in her own home, where a primary health need could be evidenced. Where NHS funding is not available, Melanie advises on whether an application should be made for local authority funding. She recently pursued funding for a client which resulted in Social Services agreeing to pay for a package of care worth £6,000 per month and reimbursing fees of £120,000 already paid.
Career
Trained Winter Taylors Solicitors, quailified 1995. Blaser Mills Winter Taylors 1995-2001; Browns Solicitors 2001-07; Law & Property LLP trading as Hodsons 2007-08; Osborne Morris & Morgan 2009-14; Henmans Freeth 2014-date.
Memberships
Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; Law Society Private Client Section.
Education
Wycombe High School, High Wycombe; Bristol Polytechnic (1992 LLB (Hons) Law 2(:1)); College of Law, Guildford (1993 Law Society Finals).
Leisure
Current affairs and travel.
Lawyer Rankings
London > Private client > Court of protection
The majority of Freeths LLP ’clients are brain injured and have received multi-million-pound compensation awards. It also has considerable experience of working with elderly clients. The group is particularly skilled at handling welfare work, as well as property and affairs matters. Natasha Molloy and Melanie Williams co-head the department. Williams and Jane Maitland are both appointed to the Office of the Public Guardian’s Panel of Deputies.
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Private client > Agriculture and estates
- Insurance > Clinical negligence: claimant
- Real estate > Commercial property: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate and commercial: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate and commercial: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Private client > Charities and not-for-profit
- Employment > Employment: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Insurance > Professional negligence
- Real estate > Property litigation
Firm Rankings
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Real estate > Commercial property: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Employment > Employment: Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx
- Private client > Family: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40
- Finance > Insolvency and corporate recovery