‘Travel like you know them’: Road safety made personal
Earlier this summer, the UK government relaunched its THINK! road safety campaign, reminding people to ‘Travel like you know them’ to highlight the human cost of road traffic accidents. The...
A diagnosis of an asbestos related illness can be worrying and upsetting. It is normal to feel overwhelmed by this, but it is important that you do plan ahead and that options for the future are considered.
Sadly, for some asbestos diseases, you will need to think about what will happen in the future if you can no longer manage, or if you do pass away.
There are many organisations and suppliers in our daily lives. With many of them, you can give another person permission to communicate with those companies on your behalf. If you are then unable to deal with something, your nominated person could do this for you. For example, you might want to give permission to someone to pay bills for you, or draw out benefits. You could arrange to add this person as a signatory to your account, or to set up a joint account. Examples of organisations that you may have to deal with regularly include; banks and building societies, credit card and loan companies, mortgage providers or landlords, local Councils and benefit agencies, utility providers for gas/electricity/water, insurance companies for your home, car, life, redundancy, accidents/illness and telecoms providers for home phone, mobile phone, internet connection and digital/satellite TV. There are also many other organisations that you may have to deal with in addition to these.
If you want a loved one to act and make decisions on your behalf in an official capacity, you may need to take out a power of attorney. This is a legal agreement and it can cover financial matters such as benefits, bank accounts, property, as well as health and welfare issues, such as nursing care and medical treatment etc.
Making a will is also very important, in order to make sure that your family and friends are catered for if you do pass away. If there is no valid will in place, any assets that you have (e.g. property, savings and compensation) will be split amongst your family in accordance with the rules of intestacy, which may not cater for your wishes.
If you need any help or advice concerning these issues then we would be happy to talk to you about them, with no obligation on you.
