Putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place offers security for you and your loved ones and lets you decide what should happen if old age, illness or injury leave you unable to deal with your own affairs. You can give instructions on what should happen to your money and your property. Without a Lasting Power of Attorney, your family and friends may find it difficult to manage your affairs and they may not know your wishes. They may need to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which can be costly and time-consuming. By making a Lasting Power of Attorney you can:
- Choose a person who you trust to look after your affairs and welfare in the future
- Specify your wishes and what powers your attorneys should have
- Choose who is told about your Lasting Power of Attorney, allowing people to raise concerns now should they wish to do so
- Reduce the likelihood of conflicts in the future by ensuring that your signature and the signatures of your attorneys are witnessed
Lasting Power Of Attorney Options
- A Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to choose one or more people to make decisions in areas such as medical treatment. This power of attorney can only be used when you are unable to make decisions for yourself.
- A Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney enables you to choose one or more people to make property and financial decisions on your behalf. You can specify if it comes into force immediately or once you no longer have mental capacity. You can also specify what powers your attorneys have.
If you give them authority, your Attorneys can make gifts of your money or property but this power is limited. The Court can authorise additional powers to make gifts in certain circumstances. If your attorney is making investment decisions, they should take specialist advice. If you choose more than one attorney, you can allow them to act alone or require them to act together. If you state that your attorneys must act together then the Lasting Power of Attorney will fail if either attorney dies or loses the ability to manage your affairs. To plan for this you should consider nominating a replacement attorney who could take over.
You can choose anyone to be your attorney, as long as they:
- Are over 18
- Have mental capacity.
Who you choose is a very personal decision. It could be:
- Your spouse or partner
- A friend or relative
- A professional, such as a solicitor.
Whoever you choose, it should be someone you trust, who you know will respect your wishes and be comfortable making decisions on your behalf.
Your attorney doesn’t have to live in the UK or be a British citizen. If you’re choosing someone to look after your financial affairs, you can’t choose someone who is bankrupt or subject to a Debt Relief Order.
You can choose more than one attorney. If you do this you can state whether they’re allowed to make decisions on their own or not.
If you state that your attorneys must act together then the LPA will fail if any attorney dies or loses the ability to manage your affairs. It’s best to nominate a replacement who could take over if this did happen.
First you’ll need to draft a document that lays out what your attorney can and can’t make decisions about. It’s vital to do this with a solicitor to ensure it’s valid.
Once it’s finalised, you’ll need to sign it in the presence of a witness. Your certificate provider will then go through it with you to you understand what you are signing and are not under any undue influence. If you’re making an LPA through Irwin Mitchell we’d act as your certificate provider.
The LPA will then have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used.
Irwin Mitchell has helped many people create a Power of Attorney. We can talk you through the process and help you draft a document that reflects your wishes for the future.
Call us on 0370 1500 100 or use our online form and we’ll call you back.
If there’s certain treatment you don’t want to receive, you could also consider making a Living Will. This is a document that specifies the kind of healthcare you do and don’t want to have.
A Living Will could be important if you know there’s a point beyond which you wouldn’t want to have life-sustaining treatment. It helps your family understand the decisions they should make on your behalf if anything happened to you.
Read more about making a Living Will.
The Enduring Power of Attorney is a previous form of LPA that was replaced by the Financial Decisions LPA in October 2007.
Although you can’t make one anymore, many that were created before that date are still valid. They didn’t have to be registered when they were made, but they will need to be in order to come into effect.
If you have an Enduring Power of Attorney that needs to be registered, our specialist lawyers can help. Call us today on 0370 1500 100, or use our online form and we’ll call you back.
If you don’t have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place it may be hard for your loved ones to know what to do if something happens to you, or you lose capacity.
Without knowing your wishes, they may find it difficult to manage your affairs and property, and they might not know what medical treatment you do or don’t want.
They might have to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order so that they can take charge of your finances and make decisions on your behalf about the care you receive.
This can be expensive and time-consuming, and everyone might not agree about who should have control and what decisions should be made.
By making an LPA now, you can prepare for the future and make sure your wishes are respected.
If you no longer need your LPA or you want to make a new one, you can cancel it (provided you still have mental capacity).
It’s always a good idea to nominate replacement attorneys in case your current attorney(s) can’t act on your behalf anymore. Even if you have more than one attorney, if one of them dies or is incapacitated, in some cases this will invalidate the LPA.
The cost of an LPA depends on what you need and how complex it is. Prices start at around £750 + VAT for a single LPA.
With our Wills Assured service we offer a 30% discount for making an LPA. Find out more.
