Lasting Powers of Attorney’s
Often referred to as an LPA, this is a legal contract you put in place to give a trusted person permission to make any important decisions on your behalf, if you are not able to do so yourself.
A Lasting Power of Attorney document, or ‘LPA’, is a legal document that gives someone of your choosing the power to make decisions when you can’t.
These are commonly put in place in case someone has an illness that might affect their ability to make choices, but it is very important to put these in place before something unexpected happens.
If you are thinking about any of these:
- If something happens to me and I am not able to access the bank, can my family easily access money, make payments and manage the bills?
- Who can make decisions about my care and any medical treatment if I can’t?
- If I become unwell or have an accident, is anyone legally able to act on my behalf?
then you need to consider putting an LPA in place.
If you don’t have an LPA in place, then sole accounts might not be able to be accessed, actions you can take on a joint account might be limited and medical decisions would be made by medical staff, not someone you have chosen.
This might be due to an illness or accident, but, whatever the circumstance, an LPA enables someone you trust to have the ability to make the decisions they think you would want them to make.
LPAs can be used due to a temporary change in your capacity such as a stroke or heart attack, or long-term conditions such as dementia or Parkinson’s.
You can also revoke them, or remove an attorney, as long as you have the mental capacity to do so.
It’s a big decision. You are giving control to someone, you need to trust them implicitly.
To help you with your decision around an LPA, think about your life.
If something happened that meant you did not have the mental capacity to make sound decisions, what could be affected by this?
If your joint mortgage needs to change, but you don’t have the capacity to do it, how would this impact your spouse and your current finances?
If no-one can access your savings, but your child needed help funding their education, would you want someone to be able to get the money for you?
If you lose mental capacity, would you want to appoint someone to be able to choose where you live, what activities you do and what medical treatment you receive?
We can work through various scenarios with you, to help you understand the implications of these decisions and what can, and can’t, be done.
If you want to find out more about any of the services we offer (or are feeling unsure and just want talk through whether you really need any of them), we are happy to have a chat.
You can give us a call, email us, book a video call, or pop into our rather lovely office in Shiney Row. See our contact page for more information.
You can choose a free 30-min
consultation, or an in-person chat
about your unique circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have a joint account, do I still need an LPA as my partner can access the account?
Standing orders, direct debits and the usual transactions will probably continue as normal, but if you need to transfer a larger sum of money this might not be possible. It really depends on your account terms and conditions but, if you choose not to have an LPA and one person loses capacity, then just be aware that it may take a long time to sort out any issues should they arise.
My partner already has a diagnosis of a condition that can impact their capacity. Is it too late to have an LPA put in place?
Again, this depends. If there are concerns around their capacity then it might not be possible (you would need to consider deputyship instead). If they have a diagnosis but still have capacity to make their own decisions then we can go ahead. A capacity assessment might be needed before the LPA can be prepared.
Pricing
You should always contact us to find out about the cost of our services, but here is a guide to our pricing should you need it.
| Lasting Power of Attorney | £200 per document |
| Revocation of an LPA or Attorney | £100 |