Lasting Powers of Attorney

Lasting Powers of Attorney

• What are they? A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which allows you to appoint people you trust to act as your Attorney(s) in respect of your personal affairs if it becomes difficult or impossible for you to do this yourself
• What do they do? You are able to make your own choice as to who you want to act as your Attorney(s) so those appointed can act for you not only in respect of the practical side of life, regarding your property and finances but also in respect of helping you in personal matters regarding your health and welfare needs

What to consider if you want to make Lasting Powers of Attorney:

• Who to appoint? The choice of who to appoint as Attorney or Attorneys is yours; you can choose to appoint more than one person and you can if you wish, appoint an Attorney who could act on a professional basis ie a Solicitor
• How would they act? If you choose more than one Attorney you can decide how they make decisions together and you may wish to impose restrictions or certain conditions on the actions they can take for you, you can also appoint replacement Attorney(s) in the event that your primary Attorneys are unable to act

What would happen if you lost mental capacity and you don’t have Lasting Powers of Attorney in place:

• Who would have access to my money? If you lose mental capacity your family and those closest to you will have to try and deal with matters on your behalf, if you do not have an LPA in place regarding your property and finances then they will not be able to pay any bills or collect monies in for you, or deal with the sale of your house. They would only have legal authority to do so if an LPA was already in place
• What would happen to my money? If your Bank were made aware that you no longer had capacity to manage your finances then they would most certainly freeze your accounts to protect the money held with them. In order to gain access to be able to manage your monies for you, someone would have to apply to the Court of Protection to request legal authority to be appointed as your Deputy(ies). You would not have a choice of who would deal with your affairs, as the decision will be made by the Court of Protection based on who applies to be considered, this route is also significantly more costly and lengthy to organise

If you wish to find out more about Lasting Powers of Attorney and how they might be organised in light of your own circumstances please contact Clare Wyett on 01302 341414 or Lauren Smith on 0114 272 1884