A lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you appoint one or more people (known as ‘Attorneys’) to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf. This gives you more control over what happens to you if you have an accident or an illness and cannot make your own decisions. Without an LPA a complicated, expensive, and protracted applications through the Courts would be required to appoint someone to act on your behalf if you cannot do so yourself.
To make an LPA You must be 18 or over and have mental capacity (the ability to make your own decisions). You cannot wait until you have lost the capacity to make an LPA when you make your LPA.
There are 2 types of LPA:
· Health and Welfare
· Property and Financial Affairs
You can choose to make one type or both, we would normally suggest that you make both as the two documents work ‘hand in hand’ as explained below.
A Health and Welfare LPA enables your Attorneys to make decisions on your behalf when you are unable to do so yourself. This includes where you live, the type of care that you receive, to give or refuse consent to life sustaining treatment and to discuss your ongoing care with other professionals, including Social Workers and other medical professionals like your GP. By appointing Attorneys, it is often possible for you to remain in your own home as your Attorneys can arrange for carers to visit you or to install necessary aids, so that you can continue living the life that you want.
A Property and Financial Affairs LPA enables your Attorneys to manage your bank accounts, ensure that you receive any benefits and pensions that you are entitled to, make sure that all your bills are paid on time and to buy and sell property on your behalf.
It is possible for restrictions and guidance to be placed within your LPA to assist your Attorneys.
Once you have made your Lasting Power of Attorney, you need to register it with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). This is a long process and often takes up to 6 months to register. As part of the work that we carry out, we would register the LPA if you wished us to do so, and ensure that any queries are dealt with appropriately. You can then have the peace of mind of knowing that your LPA is ready, as and when it is required.
If you wished, you could notify people of the intention to register your LPA. This is particularly important if for instance you are not appointing all your children as your Attorneys but wished to keep the others informed.