Tales from a Private Client lawyer…….

“Private Client Lawyer, what does that mean?” is the usual question I get when asked what I do.

“I deal with Wills, Powers of Attorney, Trusts and Death” is my usual reply.

But actually, it’s more than that, a lot more than that.

This is what I do…..

This is the story or Mrs H, born in 1914.

Mrs H was one of a large family, a childless widow who had been in care a good number of years when I met her.

In her later years, her elderly brother was assisting her with her financial affairs under a Power of Attorney but was finding the strain too much. I therefore stepped in. I met with Mrs H and over the course of 6 months a new Power of Attorney was put in place to allow me to manage her finances and report to her regularly. This was back in 2015.

From this date, I would visit Mrs H on a monthly basis, reporting to her on the state of her finances and generally spending time with her. Whilst she was one of 14, she turned out to be the last survivor and the distant family was quite that, distant.

What I didn’t mention, was that Mrs H was also blind; the tale she told me on many occasions whereby she worked in the Army on the artillery machines and one day some metal went into her eye and left her blind. On my visits I would often sit with her, she would hold my hand as this made her feel more connected to me and she’d ask me to describe myself or if we were listening to the TV she’d ask me to describe what I could see. I will never forgot on one occasion in recent years she asked me to describe Donald Trump to her!

Anyway, this relationship continued for 4 years until January of 2019, Friday 11^th to be precise, a day I won’t forget.

I had been informed that morning that Mrs Hhad deteriorated quite significantly. That afternoon as soon as I could get away I rushed over to her bedside, there was Mrs H, snuggled up under a mountain of duvets, frail, a sight that instantly broke my heart.

I sat with her a while in silence, not knowing quite what to do. I then remembered, Mrs H was passionate about poetry. I found her poetry book and began to read. After about 15 minutes, that frail body started to wriggle and from under the mountain of covers emerged her hand, feeling around for mine. I grasped it, held it tight and carried on reading until Mrs H loosened her grip and fell asleep.

I left her that day, content in the knowledge that she heard me, I know she did, she must of done, she reached for my hand, but also in the knowledge that I may not see her again.

At 01.00 on Saturday morning, I took the call I had dreaded, Mrs H had passed away.

So back to the question, “what does a Private Client Lawyer do”; well this, this is what we do. We not only provide expert advice, we care, we love, we give our time and most importantly we try our best to make a difference in the people’s lives whom we are most fortunate to come into contact with.

RIP Mrs H 1914-2019

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