Making a Lasting Power of Attorney may seem like a task for another day, but as time goes on, our ability to manage our affairs may decrease or be prevented by an unexpected illness or accident. By making sure that you have the documents in place, and registered, this helps to ensure that a trusted person can step in to assist you when you need it most.
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document that allows you (known as the “donor”) to appoint trusted people to act on your behalf (known as “attorneys”) to manage your affairs. There are two different types of document relating to different areas of your life:
· Property and Finances: covering things like paying your day-to-day bills, dealing with your bank accounts and investments or helping you with any property transactions. You can choose to give your attorneys consent to assist you while you are still able to manage your own affairs or to limit this document to be used only if you lose mental capacity.
· Health and Welfare: this allows your attorney to help you make decisions about things like where you live, your medical care and the support you receive. Your attorneys can only assist you if you lose mental capacity.
When should I prepare them?
The sooner you are able to put the documents in place, the better. This will allow you to make the choice about who you wish to appoint to assist you and where applicable, provide a greater sense of ease to family or carers who might be worried about who would make decisions on your behalf if you were not able to do so.
As part of the registration process of the Powers, they are sent to the Office of the Public Guardian to be activated for use, a process that can take 16-20 weeks at the moment. It is therefore really beneficial if this process can be undertaken at a time when you are managing well, rather than if you need assistance, and the returned registered documents can then be stored safely for when the time comes.
If the time came when you needed assistance and it was then too late to prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney, your family would need to consider making an application to the Court of Protection to assist you. This is a long and costly route to appointing themselves to act on your behalf and takes the choice out of your hands as to who you appoint to act on your behalf.
Who should I appoint as my Attorney?
A key consideration is that they should be trusted by you, but also that they should have the time and expertise needed to assist you in the most appropriate way. While family members can seek advice, ultimately it is important that they would be well-placed to step in to help you with key decisions.
It is also possible to ask professionals, such as solicitors or financial advisors, to act as your attorneys. By doing so, you can ensure that your attorneys have the technical skills and experience to manage your affairs but we would help you to explore all of your options.
Why is it a good idea to ask a lawyer to help me prepare the documents?
By asking a lawyer to help, you can be sure that someone with the appropriate expertise is there to guide you through the process of preparing the documents in time-sensitive manner, taking time to talk through your unique position and tailor the documents accordingly. They can ensure that you are comfortable with your choice of attorneys and allow you an opportunity to work through any concerns or queries that you may have. We appreciate that navigating this process can sometimes seem challenging and raise plenty of questions, so we are there to help make the process as smooth as possible for you.
How can Tozers help?
Tozers can help you to prepare your Lasting Powers of Attorney. Our experienced lawyers can guide you through the process from start to finish, ensuring that you have binding documents in place to meet your needs, please feel free to get in touch.
