There are certain conversations families avoid until they are forced to have them. Death is one, funerals are another, and lasting power of attorney (LPA) might be the trickiest of all. The troubling case surrounding Sir Ranulph Fiennes – often considered Britain’s greatest explorer – has dragged a private family matter into public view and exposed a subject that many of us may eventually face but few want to discuss.

Allegations – including some from famous friends – have been made about the explorer’s care arrangements, including claims that he was kept in care homes without proper safeguards and isolated from visitors. Those claims are essentially, as Care Inspectorate Wales concluded, that he was being unlawfully deprived of his liberty and that correct protocols were not being followed. Many of the claims by friends and relatives remain yet to be investigated. But the questions they raise are profoundly important.

As the dispute between his stepson and his estranged mother, Fiennes’ second wife, demonstrates,........

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