Straight Talk Estate Planning are very proud to announce we have partnered up with the Christchurch based MacMillan Caring Locally for their Free Wills Month, running through September 2021. MacMillan.
Read moreA response to Kate Garraway’s situation
Our most asked question at the moment seems to be “Have you heard about Kate Garraway?” and yes, sadly we have. We really feel for Kate, its an extremely difficult situation to find yourself in on so many levels and we extend her and her family our deepest sympathies and well wishes for her husbands recovery.
We’d love to say its unusual to hear a story like hears but the truth is it’s not. Whilst we can’t help with the emotional trauma of a loved one falling ill for a long period of time, hearing about the additional distress that comes from the practical difficulties of managing the family’s finances on your own is always hard because we know that a little planning could have saved a lot of headaches.
For those of you that don’t know, on top of everything else, Kate is struggling to manage the family finances as the majority of accounts, utilities, insurances etc. are in her husband’s name and she does not have Powers of Attorney in place to manage them on his behalf whilst he is unwell.
What a lot of people don’t realise is that simply having Joint bank accounts will not help either. A joint bank account works on the basis of implied consent, and implied consent cannot be given if you lack mental capacity. So if one account holder loses capacity and there are no LPAs in place, the account is at risk of being frozen.
So when do you put Powers of Attorney in place? What is the ideal time to do this?
So often we hear clients say they don’t want to put LPAs in place because they feel they are too young. But the truth is that the worst could happen at any age, as this case shows. LPAs cannot be applied for after you have lost mental capacity, so its important to get them in place whilst you can. If you lose mental capacity without an LPA in place someone will have to apply to become your deputy, which is a complex, costly and time consuming process that involves going through the courts. The last thing your family would want to deal with if your health has suddenly taken a serious turn for the worse and they need to be able to step in and take care of themselves or each other.
There’s no such things as too early, but there is certainly such a thing as too late.
You know you should write your will. Your family have been on at you for an age to get around to it. But somehow it just keeps getting pushed to.
Read moreSideways disinheritance. Its a phrase you may well have not heard before, but when I describe the phenomenon I often find my clients know someone in their circle of family.
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