Seniors facing "soft abuse" from neighbours encroaching on their property and intimidating them sought help from local lawyers at a free session organised by Age Concern.

The charity for pensioners held its third legal clinic with nine lawyers from Mello, Jones & Martin dishing out advice on a host of issues including wills, estates and boundary disputes.

Age Concern executive director Claudette Fleming said about 120 people benefited from the session and another was likely to be held next year.

She said this year the majority of issues raised were about property: the distribution of it through wills or other options, entitlement of children or other relatives and boundary issues with neighbours.

Mrs. Fleming said some seniors had sought legal advice because they were facing what she described as "soft senior abuse", where people are encroaching on their property, parking in their driveways, intimidating them and they do not know what rights they have or what to do.

Opposition MP John Barritt, a senior partner at Mello, Jones & Martin, gave advice at the session, as he has done in previous years. He said: "Seniors are experiencing growing anxiety about whether they have done the right thing, whether they are about to do the right thing and what their options are.

"They are just looking for an independent trusted adviser, someone they can turn to for professional honest advice."

Mrs. Fleming said the session was a success and the number of seniors attending suggested a growing demand for the clinic.

"We don't know how we are going to meet the demand. We may have to do some other things to get to people. We will have a post-mortem on Wednesday.

"Each year we attract more and more seniors to this event. It has convinced us that the need is there and we are so grateful to Mello, Jones & Martin for making this event their corporate contribution to our seniors."

Seniors had the choice of attending an open session on wills, trusts and estate planning conducted by senior partner Michael Mello QC or a 20-minute consultation in private with a lawyer experienced in their area of concern.

One senior said: "We have been having family discussions on what to do and we wanted a clear understanding of some of the options that were available to us. I am so glad we had this opportunity. We certainly got the information we wanted."

Age Concern was helped at the session by students from the Berkeley Institute, local youth organisations Young Life and PRIDE, overseas university student Anna Horsfield and retired lawyer Lisa Marshall.

Mr. Mello's book on the Law of Wills & Estates in Bermuda is available for sale at local bookstores and at Age Concern.