ENDURING LOVE
“Enduring Love” is the title of a book by Ian McEwan who is one of my best loved authors. I find the contents of his books so very different and yet in their individual ways they are all compelling. “Atonement” (just released on film) has to be his most beautiful; “Saturday” is my personal favourite; “Amsterdam” inspires debate; the list goes on. “Enduring Love,” however, is the story of a man favoured by the attentions of a stranger which move from being co-incidence to stalking and harassment.
Frequently, when relationships breakdown, one party behaves in a manner that’s uncontrolled and unacceptable. Enduring love becomes endurance. It is not uncommon for me to have clients who are at the receiving end of repeated incidents of: nuisance telephone calls; offensive items being posted through letterboxes; threatening or abusive text messages; attempts to sabotage their working arrangements; the searching of their refuse bins; perpetual stalking.
A few years ago and by virtue of the Protection from Harassment Act the police were given clearer powers to deal with such matters and harassment became a criminal offence. When the intensity of emotion overheats, harassment can occur but at least, if it does, there is now a mechanism for easy intervention should the onslaught become enduring.
“Easy” and “enduring” are two adjectives my colleagues in our Private Law Department have been grappling with lately as the countdown to the new law on Lasting Powers of Attorney comes into force at the end of the month. The existing law is less bureaucratic and their message, which I’ll repeat here, is to activate an Enduring Power of Attorney now to avoid regulatory requirements later.
Frequently, when relationships breakdown, one party behaves in a manner that’s uncontrolled and unacceptable. Enduring love becomes endurance. It is not uncommon for me to have clients who are at the receiving end of repeated incidents of: nuisance telephone calls; offensive items being posted through letterboxes; threatening or abusive text messages; attempts to sabotage their working arrangements; the searching of their refuse bins; perpetual stalking.
A few years ago and by virtue of the Protection from Harassment Act the police were given clearer powers to deal with such matters and harassment became a criminal offence. When the intensity of emotion overheats, harassment can occur but at least, if it does, there is now a mechanism for easy intervention should the onslaught become enduring.
“Easy” and “enduring” are two adjectives my colleagues in our Private Law Department have been grappling with lately as the countdown to the new law on Lasting Powers of Attorney comes into force at the end of the month. The existing law is less bureaucratic and their message, which I’ll repeat here, is to activate an Enduring Power of Attorney now to avoid regulatory requirements later.
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