Feature

posted 16 Sep 2002 in Volume 7 Issue 5

How to run an elderly client practice

Part two: dealing with elderly clients

In the last issue of Elderly Client Adviser, Jennifer Margrave, a sole-practitioner, provided some tips on setting up an elderly client office. In the second part of this series of articles, Jennifer continues her discussion with a look at how practitioners should be approaching and dealing with their elderly clients.

This article will describe how to deal with elderly clients and help them with a view to expanding your practice.

Before that, however, let me take a diversion following on from my last article. Assume you have the ideal office set up – day one you open. You sit back and wait for client number one to come through the door so you can test that super management package you bought for the computer. How does this happen – how do you get the first client through the door? How do you get others to follow and then build up your client base?

Forget it – that first client is not going to walk through the door just because you have opened up, unless of course you have already established a reputation in another firm and some clients follow you. You’ll have to spend your first few months getting to know your market – and getting your market to know you. My recommendation is to go out and talk to people – and forget advertising unless you know it will be focused on your chosen group. If there is a local magazine devoted to the elderly then by all means advertise in it but the local newspaper is not targeted enough – and nor are the classified telephone directories. By all means have the free insert – but don’t pay thousands of pounds for a quarter page or larger.

Look at your local Yellow Pages; how many solicitors have quarter page or half page advertisements and how can you really tell them apart? I have carried out some research into this; enquiries from people who have Yellow Pages open in front of them usually start with: “How much do you charge?” and you can tell by the voice that this might be the tenth time the question would have been asked. In other words you are competing against all the other advertisers just to give estimates (never quotes) with a slim chance of getting the work. I reckon there is a one in ten chance of turning the telephone enquiry into work, and how much time do you spend on each enquiry?

Instead, spend the time making a list of local organisations that interact with the elderly community: Age Concern, the local Alzheimers Branch, Citizens Advice Bureau. Make appointments to meet their representatives and go to them to explain what you are doing, why your firm has been set up with elderly people in mind and what you can offer older people in the way of legal services. Learn who is

who at Social Services and introduce yourself to the care managers. Explain to the charities and care managers that you know about Care in the Community; NHS Funding, Wills and enduring powers of attorney and Receivership work. Explain the services you intend to provide and perhaps offer to work with the local charities although be careful about being drawn into voluntary work unless you really want to do it and know you would enjoy it.

Offer to give talks. Giving talks is an art, though, and needs practising. It is not sufficient to make a presentation to the local Townswomens’ Guild about what your firm does – it has to be interesting for them.

The Womens Institute in my county is a well organised and formidable body. They provide a list of approved speakers to their branches – and these speakers are auditioned and tested, as I found out when I ‘volunteered’. I was in the list of speakers for some years and found I was out two or three times a week giving speeches – with a positive result of two or three new clients per speech; in the end I was

saturated. But any talk must be entertaining and at the right level – quite often ad libbing once the level of audience is gauged. Not for the fainthearted but very rewarding.

Giving a talk is not the same as an extended lecture of advice that you give your clients. Get a friend (a lecturer or thespian) to listen to you and make comments about the content of your talk, and your presentational skills. Anyone who watched the recent series about George Carman will be aware of his words of wisdom – make sure you are understood by your audience, speak the same words as them.

You must learn to project your voice; by the nature of your work you could find yourself talking to people whose hearing is not that good and if you cannot make yourself heard then what is the point? You will know if you are good at giving talks if you enjoy it!

Another way of making yourself known is to write letters to the newspapers both local or national. Again this has to be relevant to the news; Liz Holdsworth, a Solicitors for the Elderly committee member, wrote to The Times last year responding to a news article about funding for the elderly and is still getting enquiries and is inundated, so be careful! Letters must not only be newsworthy, remember they should not be libelous. I recently had a letter published about residential homes closing in my area – with the result of at least three new clients within the week.

If you already have a thriving practice some of the above may not be relevant to you but it should not be too difficult to tell existing clients of the new services available; many business people do not have the time or knowledge to deal with their elderly

relatives so a short newsletter outlining the likely problems of older relatives may start the ball rolling if you already have a client base.

Give an open evening where short presentations can be made; learn to cross sell to your commercial cousins. So you have done your marketing and clients are flooding in: when you have established your client base you should work at keeping your clients; this is a proactive situation.

Obviously marketing is an ongoing process and keeping in touch with the local charities is important but marketing is also looking after the clients you have already. I would suggest this is even more important; they will be your best referees; most of my new clients come from client referral. At one stage I had three next-door neighbours; and three generations of one of these families.

So how do you service them, and keep them? One important point I would make: never underestimate an older person or patronise them. They have lived a lot longer than you, and have greater experience of life. Quite often they have been in positions of authority in their working life and do not expect to be talked down to; even if they may be in a situation of short term memory loss or stroke. Of course, I would expect all clients to be dealt with courteously, with integrity and efficiency but these are even more important with the older client.

They need to know where they stand, more so than other clients. The Rule 15 letter, and a letter setting out what you are going to do, is more important for an older client than any other. Quite apart from the Law Society’s requirements, it sets the scene of the relationship.

Older clients are usually on a fixed income and like to know how much they are letting themselves in for by way of charges. I have devised a list of fixed costs for wills, enduring powers of attorney and other related matters; I am in the process of devising another for probate and trust matters. One client told me: “I don’t mind how much you charge so long as I know”, which could be interpreted as an open-ended costs arrangement!

One way of keeping costs within reach of older people is to invite them to do a lot of your work for you. Is it cost efficient for you to spend an hour taking down the names and addresses of all intended beneficiaries of a will or trust? To discuss the idea of ‘global accident’ with a husband and wife who have never thought beyond their own demise? To ask them to consider at what age infant beneficiaries should inherit? It is sensible to send out a questionnaire that the clients can complete before they visit so that the will drafting process is made easier and less time is spent.

We also ask the clients to tell us where they heard about us – a valuable tool to find out where clients come from.

This can also be used to partly satisfy the money laundering rules. Most of my clients are referred by other professionals or clients. It is very easy to phone the person mentioned, to thank them for the recommendation, and casually ask them how long they have know the new client. Keep a note of that conversation; is it then necessary to ask for passport and utility account? You are likely to see the deeds of the house as well; how long have they lived in the property? You should be asking about pensions; they will then volunteer where they worked. All these lead to ‘know your client’; and also provide valuable information to not only advise about wills but about lifetime gift planning and possibly refer them on for investment advice. The public is now becoming familiar with producing identity but it still annoys some and it must be better if it can be carried out in a subtle way.

On the other hand if someone walks in off the street and has just moved into the area, your antennae must start twinkling and you can then ask them for the appropriate documents. Again if you are doing mortgage work you would need to ask for these documents but you can then give the client the reason that it is a requirement of the lender.

Mental capacity

Turning to a different point, when dealing with the older client it is vital to always have in mind the question of mental capacity. The statistics are horrific – one in five of over 85-year-olds suffer some form of dementia; one in twenty over the age of 70. There are also forms of pre-senile dementia; a friend’s mother died at 55 having exhibited strange behaviour from when she was in her early 40s, so it is not just older people but obviously the statistics do require a more vigilant view of matters the older the client.

The situation should be dealt with tactfully. Try the following questions:

“How did you learn about us?”
“Where do your children live?”
“Terrible the news today isn’t it?”

All the above are general questions; they will elicit logical answers or not. Sometimes an intelligent person who is becoming forgetful has developed aids to help them remember; watch out for these because it can be misleading. Clues are keeping a daily newspaper to hand to check the day; asking relatives to confirm information; cheekily refusing to answer questions because it is ‘none of your business’. Be quite truthful; tell the client that you have to check that they know why you are seeing them and that they understand the consequences of the instructions that you are going to carry out.

Always always see the client – at least once if not twice. The second occasion may show that the client has not remembered meeting you or anything about the first interview. This may seem obvious but there have been a few horror cases lately, where beneficiaries have instructed the solicitors and the solicitors have acted through that intermediary.

Geoffrey Shindler at the STEP Summer Conference made it very clear – be suspicious if someone asks you to visit or meet with an elderly person who has always used other solicitors. His staccato instructions were:

Do not accept instructions from a third party.
Do not be flattered by taking on such a new client;
Remember either the children or the older person is your client; not both.

Always ask if the older person has used other solicitors and find out why they are not using their regular lawyers now (see case study below).

Case study:

In the estate of Lily Louisa Morris deceased (2001) WTLR 1137, ChD is a case in point. Mrs Morris had always made wills leaving her estate ultimately to charity. Towards the end of her life not only did she ‘sell’ her house for £50 to her carer but changed her will in favour of that carer. The carer and friends were instrumental in organising the solicitor, who never met Mrs Morris. Sounds incredible that this still happens – it should never happen in an elderly client practice. Systems should be put in place for all staff to know that the client must be seen.

Once the client has been interviewed always follow up with a letter that is sent on the same day or the next day. If the client does not respond within a fortnight send a reminder. Remember the negligence cases where there has been undue delay in preparing a will. It is true that you can take a horse to water but not make them drink; if you have sent two reminders and still no response, would a telephone call be appropriate? Record what response you do get; if a client is forgetful this may be your clue. Be proactive but in a tactful and kind way; remember you are there to help the client and if they are not being decisive you can help them with further discussions; at some point in these discussions you may consider that mental capacity is in question.

If you have any doubts whatsoever about the mental capacity of the client obtain independent evidence; ask for a doctor’s report. A simple letter to the doctor outlining the mental capacity required for making wills or enduring powers of attorney should be sufficient. The book Assessment of Mental Capacity: Guidance for Doctors and Lawyers jointly published by the Law Society and the BMA is an essential tool here; it gives the criteria for different capacities and advice on how to write to doctors. Remember doctors are not lawyers and need to know the legal criteria for different procedures; mental capacity is at the end a legal jurisdiction and not medical.

Your practice should have the facilities to deal with the Public Guardianship Office. This means having the expertise to understand their procedures but also the resources to deal with the delays and inefficiencies resulting thereout. This is not meant as a criticism – it is a fact of life. You should have staff who are willing to hang on the telephone, be persistent, be patient when calls are not returned, with people who are away, who are sick. Your staff should be used to diarising when to chase the PGO - and chase them. It is not unknown for three months to pass from the date of a hearing to the production of the First General Order - and that is when we carry out procedures to chase. The last Order took that time and we were told the papers got lost in the sealing room. This was useful as we then asked if a search could be carried out in that office.

Another point to bear in mind is that PGO work might have to be assessed - so train staff to record all phone calls, note all work carried out, and deal with matters efficiently - always remember that some work may be disallowed. All files should of course be kept in the same way but it is more important with PGO work.

You should always be asking ‘who is your client?’ - a difficult matter when a person turns out not to have mental capacity. If there are genuinely no relatives who can instruct you and want to deal with the Receivership themselves, you must apply to the Public Guardianship Office without having a client agreement; a tricky point and one I do not think has been addressed. I take the view that I am carrying out a service which is essential; how else is the elderly person’s finances – and their resultant well-being - going to be dealt with? Try to submit the papers as soon as possible. Explain to the doctor and others that you will not have authority to pay fees until the Order has been issued. Push the PGO for expedition.

It will be seen from the above that I have referred to ‘diarising’ and ‘systems’ - even more important in an elderly client practice, I would suggest. Elderly people frequently become agitated if their requests are not dealt with quickly and it can lose a client if you do not produce an original will on the day you are notified of a death. It can be distressing - see my own personal experience when my mother died (see box below).

A personal experience:

My mother had always been secretive and never trusted me because I was a solicitor!! When she died, we suspected she had made a will and left it with the firm who had dealt with the sale of her house. We phoned them and explained she had died; they told us to visit with a death certificate and ‘other papers’. I did not tell them I was a solicitor but explained that her estate was small and we would deal with it ourselves. We produced the death certificate and the receptionist curtly told us to leave this with her with all the papers and they would deal. We explained we wanted to know if they held the will and if so, we would take it away and repeated that we would deal with the estate. She was taken aback by this but then told us the solicitor who dealt with probates was away until the next day. I asked if she could check her register of wills to see if she did in fact hold the will. She said they did not have a register. I asked how they knew what wills they held and she said that Mr [Away] kept them in a locked strongbox in his room. Nobody else had the key. I said we needed to see the will to see if my mother had given instructions for her funeral in the will. Eventually Mr [Away] phoned in the latter part of the next day to say they did not hold the will. A subsequent frantic search followed and we found the will in a biscuit tin in the kitchen!

Now if a member of the public had had the above experience would they ever have used the solicitors again?

Simple systems of retrieval would have placated my family; courtesy and acceptance of our wish to deal with the estate would have made us happy; efficiency might have meant that I would have recommended this firm (not where I practice) if my clients moved to their area. Instead I considered complaining to the Law Society and none of my family who still live nearby would ever recommend that firm to anyone who asks for a recommendation. Finally it is important to have the expertise to service elderly clients; I will address that in my third article.

Jennifer margrave is a solicitor practising from her own offices in Guildford, Surrey. She can be contacted on 01483 562 722 or by e-mail at jm@jmargrave.co.uk.