I was shocked, my head was reeling, spinning around on my shoulders. I received a call yesterday as I dropped off my completed packages at FEDEX.
Mentally I was ready to shed my professional suit for gardening garb and find my pruners for a day in the garden, since rain was on the way and a perfect time to clean up from recent winds.
The caller, someone I am only vaguely familiar with, worked in a legal office until her layoff last year when her sole practicing attorney retired after a long career.
It turns out her significant other took a fall in December, bled out in his brain and now he has sundowners and in an acute facility in LA. She has a power of attorney for him, but somehow the notary certificate has been misplaced, became detached from the instrument, can I help? The first thing I want to know is his level of awareness. That's when it gets dicey since I don't know him, or her that well. I said how sorry I am for her circumstances, but this is way above my pay grade and I have no way to assist in this dilemma. Then, she asks if I know someone in LA who could assist. No, I do not. I did not even suggest how she might find anyone who would be willing.
All the while, the caller is sobbing uncontrollably.
I'm still in disbelief that this situation occurred. I see so many people these days who are clamoring to get their health and family trust documents together during COVID-19, and a call like this is just so perplexing and frustrating to make sense of. No one can ever predict accidents like this, and they happen all the time. The gentleman and his significant other are in their 70s. |
