Have you heard the one about the Solicitor who is also a Keyworker........

As we press on through #lockdown3 with fingers crossed for short vaccine waiting times, lighter evenings and a gin and tonic in warm sunshine with friends, it’s important not to let the daydreaming interfere with the day job. On Friday I donned my PPE and went to visit a lovely elderly client who has recently moved to a beautiful care home where, he informs me, care and kindness are abundant.

After a fall at his own home, he and his family decided that now was a good time for him to move closer to one of his daughter’s and be properly looked after. This has involved selling his home, organising his bank accounts and settling him into an entirely new environment – not an easy task as COVID-19 has raged across the country for the best part of 2020.

Urgent specific Powers of Attorney were required to enable members of the family limited and specific powers to facilitate this, whilst we commenced the applications for Last Powers of Attorney. Two of the appointed Attorneys are overseas, which meant we were also reliant on international postal services at a time when they are overburdened too!

The key message though is we have finally got everyone’s signatures on the same document, (the revision of which will be dealt with in later articles) and can now apply to the Court for it to be registered before the time limit on the Specific Powers of Attorney have expired. 

I enjoyed a heartwarming and currently novel 40 minute appointment with my client chatting about his life, the medals he was awarded for his services to the RAF and how happy he is now that he is settled into his new home. The efforts that the Home have gone to, to ensure that everyone is protected were reassuring and effective. They have created a room, divided by a glass wall and with an entirely separate external access for a visitor, so that we could be in the same room without ever coming into contact with each other.

So don’t allow this pandemic crisis to stop you from putting in place, what are more than ever, essential tools to assist you and your loved ones in the day to day, where you would otherwise have to navigate the bureaucracy and heartache that comes from being ill prepared.

For more information on putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, get in touch.