Have you ever wondered how your family would prove they have the authority to make financial and health decisions on your behalf if you weren’t able to? For example, if you had dementia, a life-changing brain injury, suffer serious health problems or even be in a coma.
The unfortunate fact is that in many cases, your family would not be able to make decisions on your behalf. That's where Lasting Powers of Attorney come in.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document, signed by you and the people you choose (your Attorneys) to look after your affairs in the event you were alive but unable to. It is completely separate from your Will and neither has any bearing on the other.
Lasting Powers of Attorney come in two forms: Property & Finance and Health & Welfare.
A Property & Finance LPA allows your attorneys to make decisions on your behalf regarding your finances, for example paying your bills or managing your income and bank account. With your permission, this document can be used immediately without you having lost mental capacity.
A Health & Welfare LPA can only be used when you have insufficient mental capacity to make your own decisions, and allows your attorneys to make decisions on your care and wellbeing, for example where you live and what medical treatment you receive. You can specify whether or not your attorneys have the power to decide on life-sustaining treatment.
Creating Lasting Powers of Attorney ensures that you and your family avoid extra unnecessary stress.
T: 07795 661719 | E: info@lakeswills.co.uk
Do you have questions? Click to book a free chat & ask meIf a person loses mental capacity without LPAs in place, the Court of Protection may become involved and make decisions on that person’s behalf. The Court may not make decisions as the person would have wanted.
Relatives can apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as deputies, but it's a lengthy, expensive process with no guarantee of success. And relatives could dispute each other’s applications. Where the Court does appoint a relative as a deputy, it is likely to impose onerous supervision, at the deputy’s expense, to ensure they are acting ethically.
Where the Court of Protection does appoint a deputy, they may not be the deputy that the person concerned would themselves have chosen. The Court of Protection rarely appoints relatives as deputies for health and welfare.
Without taking specific steps to grant your spouse or children legal access to your property and finances – and a Lasting Power of Attorney is the simplest way to do this – they may not be able to manage your finances if you were to lose mental capacity. On the health and welfare side, although health and care staff and providers do often take families' opinions into consideration, if you have lost mental capacity then a Lasting Power of Attorney gives your family far more power to make decisions on your care. Without Lasting Powers of Attorney, your family may not be able to have input into your care or even force changes to sub-standard care.
A Will is completely separate from a Lasting Power of Attorney and neither affects the other. Your Lasting Powers of Attorney are for while you are alive, and they are cancelled on your death, whereas your Will is only activated on your death. Thus, your attorneys have no automatic power to administer your property unless they are also named as executors of your Will.
Absolutely not, in fact, you are prolonging control. While you have mental capacity, your Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney cannot be used by your attorneys, and while your Property & Finance one can be, this is only with your permission and to carry out your instructions. If you lose mental capacity, Lasting Powers of Attorney allow your attorneys to do what you would want them to in that situation regarding your care and finances, rather than being subject to the will of the Court of Protection and social services, who may make decisions you would not have agreed with.
Although there are some variables in this, specifically how long it takes to receive the signed forms back from your attorneys and the Office of Public Guardian's registration process, I aim to have your Lasting Power of Attorney forms completed and registered within 4-5 months of first meeting you.
Lakes Wills Ltd’s fees for registering LPAs begin from £395 for one LPA type for one person. Additionally the Office of the Public Guardian charges an £82 fee for each LPA type on application.
Lakes Wills Ltd is a fully insured member of the Institute of Professional Will writers and complies with the IPW code of practice.
