We want happy clients. Clients come to us because they want a particular result or outcome to be achieved whether it be the successful purchase or sale of a house or flat or a satisfactory redistribution of assets following death, divorce or a cohabitation arrangement.
September can be tricky. I had planned to go away but I cannot continue to practise without some form of Professional Indemnity. We have to renew our insurance by the 1st October. Thirty years ago we had no problems. We were insured through our own professional body the Law Society and their associates worked out our premium and we simply paid up.
Two events stick out over the Christmas/New year break. I made a will for a couple whose 56 year old unmarried son had died of cancer. I took the will to them on the Friday evening just before the Christmas holiday. The weather was damp and it was dark. They signed the will. The wife had an uncomfortable cough. I wished them a good Christmas or a good break. Under the circumstances, I felt that I had failed them. I should have advised them just to try to get out or tried to give some uplifting thoughts because they must have felt very alone that Christmas. I just felt that I had failed them.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 was designed to improve the law relating to Powers of Attorney and reduce abuse. The result is that 4 pages documents creating the powers have been replaced by 25 pages or more. Anyone who wants to delegate the management of their affairs to someone they trust now has to clear several fences on the way to achieving their wishes.
