I have an old colleague who gave me some really good advice professionally, many years ago. She knows who she is, and some fellow professionals may have received this advice from her, with love and some force, over the years, as she now leads a large private client team!

The advice?

If you’re run over by a bus, we need to be able to look at every single one of your files and see exactly what’s going on.

The attendance notes must be up to date. The summary of next steps must be there. All correspondence details must be clear to see.

We would need to be able to share your files out to other colleagues, quickly and efficiently.

See what a tight ship looks like?!

It’s actually really good advice (though it did make me feel a little disposable), and I do my best to live by the principle as best I can. My professional files are simple but very clear. No fluff. They include a checklist.

Perhaps you’ve picked up a good tip in this article that you can apply in your work? Or maybe you thought I was heading in a different direction completely, in the area of getting your Will done in the New Year, before you get run over by a bus.

Whatever the message you personally received, please take action.

If you’d like to chat through anything to do with Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), Probate matters or even file updates, please give Jane a call on 01727 840 240 or drop me a line at Jane@jcwillsandprobate.co.uk as whatever message you received from this article, is important.