Legal

L

Amber Sprague Partner Tindall Gask Bentley Lawyers

LEGAL Spare your family the heartache

Ihave spent the last 21 years practising almost exclusively in the workers compensation jurisdiction. Initially, that was under the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and in the Workers Compensation Tribunal and, since July 1, 2015, under the Return to Work Act and in the South Australian Employment Tribunal.

I spend a lot of my time assisting police officers injured both physically and psychologically in the course of their employment in: • Completing claim forms. • Submitting claim forms to SAPOL. • Navigating through the claimsdetermination process. • Advising on rights and entitlements post claims being accepted. • Engaging in disputation at the

SA Employment Tribunal if a claim is rejected.

Sometimes there are disappointing outcomes, sometimes there are good outcomes and sometimes there are great outcomes.

I could give you 400 or so words of advice on claims and possible entitlements but, instead, I want to tell you about being a responsible, organized adult.

Now, my husband and children tell me I’m the queen of nagging but, if that’s what it takes to save you and your loved ones from extra heartache and distress, I’m happy to be a nagger.

You see, my sister-in-law, who is not that much older than me, is dying. She was diagnosed about four years ago with bowel cancer.

After countless chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, the cancer has spread to her bones. It is terminal and she is in immense pain.

It is awfully distressing to see her this way. While she is being kept as comfortable as possible in the circumstances, it is only a matter of time until she lapses fully into unconsciousness and ultimately passes away.

This is a horrible situation, one which I am sure many of you have experienced. However, it is made worse by the fact that she only has a will (but at least she has that).

She does not have an enduringpower-of-attorney document allowing her husband or adult children to act on her behalf to manage her affairs. Nor does she have an advance care directive setting out her medical wishes for treatment.

It is too late for her to sign those documents now, when they are desperately needed, as she does not have the legal capacity to do so. She can’t write and can barely communicate.

Accordingly, her husband and children are left powerless to act on her behalf because they do not have the legal authority to do so.

Even more frustrating is that, before she became unable to write and speak, she did not write down all the necessary passwords and log-on information for banking, insurances, her iPhone and so on to enable the family and their business to operate without her.

Even more frustrating is that, around five years ago, she and I discussed how important it was to make sure that our affairs were in order by having these documents prepared. We were dealing with our mother-in-law who also had none of these documents and was becoming incapacitated. Please save your family members the distress and heartache of not being able to manage your affairs when you are incapable of doing so.

And write down all your passwords somewhere safe.

We half-joked at the time that it was “better to be safe than sorry” and swore that we would both action them straightaway. I did, and I’m all sorted if the unimaginable happens, but she sadly didn’t. She just kept putting it off as one of those things we know we need to do, but never quite get around to because we are all just so busy. And then it’s too late.

So, my nagging message? Please save your family members the distress and heartache of not being able to manage your affairs when you are incapable of doing so. Please make sure that you have all necessary estate planning documents, including wills but also enduring powers of attorney and advance care directives. And write down all your passwords somewhere safe.

Also a good idea is to keep a list of details that will be important for your family to know: • Assets (real estate, bank accounts – including online-only accounts, shares, investments, digital assets (currency)). • Liabilities. • Utility providers (electricity, gas, telephone, internet, mobile). • Insurance (house, contents, car, life,

TPD, etc). • Streaming and other regularly paid services. • Anyone else they should contact or know about (Police Association,

Dependants Fund).

It will generally be only a page long, but it can save a lot of time and worry.

In a perfect world, these documents will not be needed in the near future for any of us, but at least they will be there ready for when they are.