 Andrew, a widower, had two children Sally & Darryl. He was on excellent terms with his daughter but unfortunately, in later years, his relationship with his son had begun to deteriorate. When he suffered his first stroke he lost the ability to take care of his own finances. He had not appointed anybody as his attorney to take over on his behalf. His son sought and was granted the position of attorney by the Courts. Whereas Sally would probably have taken a more compassionate approach to the use of his funds Darryl turned out to be quite brutal. Over the years there were instances where expenditure was refused that might have led to an improved quality of life for Andrew. Unfortunately, these instances were somewhat subjective and on the surface Darryl’s custodianship could not be flawed. He diligently managed the affairs in a way that would both retain their value and to an outsider appear as though they were completely in Andrew’s interest. Had Sally been involved, it is likely that more money would have been spent on Andrew than turned out to be the case. She would almost certainly have moved him from the nursing home where he was staying. She felt it was substandard and a cause of considerable stress to her father. This situation could easily have been avoided had Andrew appointed Sally as his attorney in the first instance.
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