Hemstock Hosts Legal Info Day

Dr. Hemstock Residence treated residents and seniors in Lloydminster to a free legal clinic by PSM Lawyers partner Jeffrey Kerr.

Kerr was pleased to speak about writing a will, setting up a power of attorney and preparing your estate to a mixed audience last week.

“Sometimes I think if you are wondering about these things, there’s a question of wondering where do I turn or get started so that’s some of the information we’d like to make available today,” said Kerr.

He says PSM holds a few free clinics during the year to assist the public on being educated on some of these legal issues.

The information session for Hemstock residents and local seniors was set up by Amber Fisher, marketing manager with Verve Senior Living, that operates the facility.

“It’s just a way for them to feel a little bit more at ease with the process of having a power of attorney, ‘how do I do my will’ and things that can often be scary when you don’t know enough about it,” she said.

Fisher says the legal clinic is part of a new program Hemstock has just started to invite local professionals like Kerr to share relevant information to residents and seniors.

Kerr says PSM Lawyers practice a lot in the area of estate planning, estate administration and wills.

“Part of why we’re here today is we’ve been asked to do a presentation on the importance of having a will in place to facilitate succession planning for when you pass away as well as the role of having a personal directive,” said Kerr.

He explained a personal directive is sometimes referred to as a living will or a health care directive.

It provides for who will attend to health care decisions for you when you lose capacity.

Kerr says the other document they often deal with for clients is power of attorney.

“That is the same circumstance where you’ve perhaps lost the capacity to make decisions on your own and you need some help attending to your financial and property affairs,” said Kerr.

Kerr noted the subject matter is not strictly for seniors.

“For people in the earlier stages of life it’s important to give consideration to some of these questions,” he said.

“More so if you have children, you set something up to attend to who will be their guardian if something unfortunate happens to you and your spouse,” he said.