The COVID 19 pandemic has meant that many of us have been faced with difficult situations with loved ones in hospital and in intensive care. I’m sure many of you have watched “Kate Garraway: Finding Derek” the heart-breaking story of her husband Derek’s yearlong battle with COVID, that has been made even more complicated by the lack of legal protection she and Derek had in place. Kate was unable to access funds to manage her husband’s care or refinance her mortgage. Sadly, she didn’t even have the legal right to see his medical notes owing to data protections laws.
Research by Solicitors For the Elderly shows that 65% of us think our next-of-kin will make medical and care decisions for us if we are no longer able to. In reality, this is not the case, unless a Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney is in place. Currently only 22% of the UK have one in place, although there has been a rise of enquires made about Lasting Powers of Attorneys during the COVID pandemic.
To avoid this difficult and stressful situation a Health and Welfare Power of Attorney or Property and Financial Affairs LPA can give an Attorney, of your choosing ,the ability to act on your behalf. It can help to make a difficult situation easier for you and your loved ones. It is important to use a specialist lawyer who is experienced in this area of law and is trained to support people making these important, complex and difficult decisions. According to Which? 22,000 LPA’s are rejected every year, so it is important that you seek legal advice to make sure that yours is not one of the 22,000 rejected.
Here at Dodds Solicitors we are fully trained and highly experienced and specialise in all aspects of LPA’s, Wills and Probate. We pride ourselves on dealing with your case sensitively and professionally.
Making an LPA can be one of the most important things that you can do and we try to make our service as convenient and straight forward as possible. If you would like more information about Lasting Powers of Attorney or would like to arrange an appointment to discuss matters further please contact Susan Fletcher on 0116 262 8596.