Lionel’s story
Lionel is 83 and the eldest of four siblings. Lionel lived in Cheltenham from his early 30s, working as a head accountant for a major insurance company in shipping and aviation. Whilst he enjoyed spending time with his family, he himself never married.
After Lionel retired, he enjoyed many years in Cheltenham, but with advancing years, his youngest sister Dawn persuaded him to move to Hartley in 2005 at the age of 70. After Lionel moved to Hartley, Dawn was always in close contact on a daily basis, either seeing him or speaking on the phone. However, in December 2015, Lionel was diagnosed with the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s.
Lionel was advised by his doctors to seek and appoint a Power of Attorney for Property & Financial Affairs plus a Power of Attorney for Health & Welfare. With a Power of Attorney in place, the Attorney is able to take over all of the affairs of the person who has lost their mental capacity.
When making a Power of Attorney, one has to be deemed to have capacity. Therefore, Lionel was assessed by his family doctor and his solicitor who confirmed that at that point, he still had the capacity to make the decision to appoint Dawn as his Power of Attorney. His solicitor recommended to also have a younger person appointed, in case Dawn was ever unable to fulfil the role. For this reason, Lionel chose to have one of his nephews to be joint Power of Attorney.
Lionel now has advanced Alzheimer’s and lives in a very nice specialised care home, with Dawn now able to act on his behalf in every way.
Why did Lionel and Dawn choose to work with Blue Ocean?
Lionel was introduced to Blue Ocean through a family connection. Initially Annabel Sumner helped him to consolidate some of his investments, so that they were performing better than they were previously.
Once Lionel lost his mental capacity, Dawn took over all of his finances and continued to work with Annabel. Their aim is now to ensure that Lionel’s investments are working as hard as possible so that he can remain in the specialist care home, which costs over £70,000 every year.
How has Blue Ocean helped?
First and foremost, Annabel has brought together all of Lionel’s investments to ensure that they are making a return which will enable him to stay in specialist care. This included cashing in a number of premium bonds and transferring them into investments which are more likely to generate a return. His wealth is invested in cautious funds to achieve Lionel’s income objective but also to protect his money as much as possible.
In addition, Annabel regularly reviews Lionel’s investments to make sure that they are performing as expected. Dawn comments: “This is something that a lay person like me, probably wouldn’t do. Without expert advice, I probably would have kept Lionel’s finances as they were, rather than risk making changes which could result in losing some or all of his money.”
Finally, Lionel has been able to keep his home. With Annabel’s advice, Dawn decided to invest in upgrading the home so that it could be rented out to generate further income for Lionel, which helps to cover the cost of his care.
How have Lionel and Dawn benefited?
Dawn says: “Blue Ocean’s advice has given me confidence – I know that I’m doing the right thing by my brother. Being a Power of Attorney is a major responsibility as you are taking over someone’s life and their decisions. You need to be 100% sure that you’re doing the right thing.
It would have been a nightmare without help – I couldn’t have moved Lionel’s money without expert advice and I wouldn’t have the confidence to spend the money I have to improve Lionel’s situation. Blue Ocean have been fantastic and I have complete trust in their advice.”
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Surrey
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