Mary-Lou Fletcher

About Mary-Lou Fletcher

Mary-Lou Fletcher is a partner at Woods, Clemens, Fletcher & Cronin whose files cover real estate, corporate law, and wills and estates, with farm and rural clients among the people served. By 2023, Fletcher had been practising law for 23 years.

Wills are something Fletcher talks about in plain terms. Anyone over 18 ought to have one, in Fletcher's view, and the partner puts powers of attorney on the same footing, calling it extremely important to have both. A homemade will written by hand, signed and dated can be valid, but one that's witnessed the wrong way may be void. Even a typed will needs two witnesses, and neither can be a beneficiary or a beneficiary's spouse.

Of the two kinds of power of attorney, Fletcher ranks the one for property ahead of personal care. If someone becomes incapacitated without one, the government steps in, the public guardian and trustee's office looks after their assets and financial affairs, and not even a spouse can step in. When it comes to picking an estate trustee, Fletcher's advice is to choose a close relative with a head for administration.

Back in 2017, Fletcher, then living in Mapleton, was booked as a guest speaker with Jessica Hutchison at an advance care planning workshop to be run by the Seniors' Centre for Excellence in Drayton, where Fletcher's seminar was scheduled to cover why wills and powers of attorney for property and personal care matter.