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Lasting Powers of Attorney

If you wish to plan ahead to ensure that there is someone in place to make decisions for you should you be unable to make those decisions yourself, you should make a Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA).

An LPA is a legal document which enables a person aged 18 or over (the Donor) to appoint another person or persons (the Attorney) to act on their behalf and make decisions for that person. The person making the LPA can chose to delegate to attorneys' decisions relating to personal welfare – including health care and medical treatment decisions – as well as decisions regarding property and financial matters. There are two different types of LPA:

• Property and Affairs LPA: This can be used to appoint attorneys to make decisions about financial issues, for example operating a bank account, buying and selling property, investments, dealing with tax affairs and benefits.
• Personal Welfare LPA: This will enable an attorney to make decisions about an individual's welfare and health, for example where the person should live, day to day care including diet and dress, the medical treatment to be received, and the giving or refusing of consent to life sustaining medical treatment. The Attorney can only use the Personal Welfare LPA if the Donor has lost mental capacity to make the relevant decisions.

An LPA will enable the Donor to give specific instructions to the appointed Attorneys, either by giving them general authority to act or limiting their authority to specific acts. In all cases, the Attorneys must act in the Donor's best interests.

Before the LPA can be used, it must be registered at the Office of the Public Guardian. Until it is registered the Attorneys will be unable to make any decision for the Donor. If the Donor has mental capacity, the Donor can register the LPA, or the attorneys can register it at any time.

There are a number of benefits in making an LPA, particularly if the Donor is advancing in years, in ill-health, being admitted into a care home, travels abroad regularly or is involved in a business.

The alternative can be costly and time consuming. If the Donor has not appointed an Attorney and becomes mentally incapable, relatives or some interested person would have to apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputy to be appointed to manage the Donor's property and affairs. This will entail obtaining an assessment of the Donor's capacity, the completion of a number of lengthy forms and a Hearing before a Deputyship Order can be issued. There is a Court fee of £400 on submitting the application and a further Court fee of £400 on any other ancillary application. There are ongoing costs to pay including annual administration charges up to £800 a year, and the Deputy will have to prepare annual accounts to file in Court and pay a fee. In most cases, a solicitor will be instructed to deal with the application and there will be a fee to be paid for this professional service. Further, when the person who lacks capacity dies, a charge is levied to wind up the finances along with an annual charge until the final Deputy's account is approved. All these costs will be taken out of the Donor's estate and will remove financial control from the Donor's family.

For more information on Lasting Powers of Attorney, please call equityCare Legal Services direct on 01594 838940 or take a few minutes to complete our enquiry / request callback form and we will contact you as soon as possible.