Community Legal Advice

A power of attorney is a legal document that enables someone to act on your behalf or make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself.

For a variety of reasons, you might want someone to make decisions on your behalf. It might be either temporary or ongoing. Temporary causes can include needing assistance with daily duties like paying bills while you’re in the hospital. If you have been diagnosed with dementia and will no longer be able to make decisions for yourself, these could be longer-term reasons.

The ability to make or communicate decisions at the appropriate time indicates that you have mental capacity. You must understand the decision that must be made, the reason for the decision, and the anticipated results.

power of attorney comes in a variety of forms.

Ordinary – Covers financial issues – Good for a short time or if you have trouble getting out.

Lasting –  takes effect if you lose the ability to make decisions or the desire to do so. It covers financial or health and care aspects.

Lasting Power of Attorney replaced Enduring Power of Attorney in October 2007, however, documents signed before this date remain in effect.

Here is what you can expect when dealing with a solicitor and inheritance.

When you make an appointment to discuss someone’s will, a family solicitor will meet with you and your family members and go through the terms of the will. This can be a difficult conversation, but everyone must understand what they could receive.

After you have discussed everything, the solicitor will ask if you would like the money now or if they can put it into a trust fund that can be accessed when you reach a certain age. You should talk this over with your family members before making your decision.

You should know that if there are no other beneficiaries in the will, then all of the money goes to one person. If there are multiple beneficiaries, everyone gets an equal share of what is left over after any debts have been paid off.

The Oxford dictionary defines plagiarism as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own”

Another definition, by Merriam-Websters online dictionary, states that to plagiarise is “to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own” and “to use another’s production without crediting the source.”

In other words, when you use other people’s work without crediting them, you are committing fraud as it steals someone else’s work and lies about it afterwards.

There are ways to avoid plagiarism by acknowledging where the information came from.

Images, videos and music can also be subject to plagiarism. You need to acknowledge the artist, producer and where the music, photo or video came from.

To check that anything you write is not subject to plagiarism, you can download apps like Grammarly, a plagiarism option.

A property dispute is something no one really wishes to get involved in but it does happen and for a couple different reasons. There are those that may feel conflicted over the ownership of property and there can be boundary disputes between neighbours. The second issue can often be a very long and costly situation if allowed to escalate. The best option in a boundary dispute, is making the upmost attempt to get the conflict mediated and come to a negotiation or settlement.

Then there are other claims such as TOLATA, which is typically used when cohabiting partners have a breakdown in their relationship and create a dispute over to whom the property should go to. Additionally, there are situations such as Easements where, neighbours may disagree to a right of passage or drainage etc in which the law can step in and imply an easement, in favour of one party.

There are several other issues with property that could be raised and if things can not be settled by mediation or amongst the individuals involved, solicitors can be brought in.