Why make an LPA?
Who would you prefer is legally responsible for making decisions for you...a loved one or a stranger?
If you lose the capacity to manage your own affairs (for example from an accident or illness) you may be surprised to learn that the ability to make crucial life decisions are taken away from you and your family.
Instead, it would be a stranger appointed by the Court of Protection that would make decisions on your behalf, not your spouse, partner, children, parents, siblings or other loved ones and if any wanted to act on your behalf, a long, lengthy and expensive application to the Court of Protection would ensue with absolutely no guarantee of a successful outcome.
Having your Lasting Power of Attorney documents drawn up avoids all this.
Common life decisions that are taken away from you if you lose capacity
- Where you live
- Who can visit you
- The kind of care you should receive
- Creature comforts including food and clothing
- Accessing bank accounts
- Dealing with insurance and utility companies
- The sale, rental or access to any property
- The ability to refuse life-sustaining treatment.
It'll never happen to me, I'm too young to need one
Even when we are young, we can find ourselves incapacitated owing to illness accident or injury.
*In fact, the third-highest claim on Critical Illness Insurance policies is for a stroke. If you had to make a claim on this, how would you be able to use the payout received to repay your mortgage if the severity of your condition was such that you didn't have the capacity to do this?
At such a troubling time it can be invaluable having a reliable person to manage your well-being and personal affairs.
Ultimately these are documents you will likely end up getting at some point in your life, its just a case of when. The important point to note is that you can't make a Lasting Power of Attorney once you have lost capacity and so, there really is no time like the present.
The two types of Lasting Power of Attorney documents:
Property & Financial Affairs
- Pay bills / debts
- Handle bank accounts and investments
- Arrange and collect state benefits
- Instruct for building and repair works on property
- Sell / rent property
- £250 to draft
Health & Welfare
- Where you live
- Where you are cared for and by whom
- Daily routines e.g food and clothing
- What medical treatment you receive
- Decisions in relation to life-sustaining treatment
- £250 to draft
Once drafted you can register these now or at a later date, even after losing capacity. Our service includes handling the registration process either now or in the future at no extra cost; you simply pay the Office of the Public Guardian registration fee as it is at the time - currently this is £92 per document, reduced to £46 if your income is below £12K p/a and waived entirely if you are in receipt of qualifying means-tested benefits.
Steps to get this in place
1.
Order online here or Click here to Request a Call Back or call our office on 01276 903400 to place an order
2.
We will gather the appropriate information for your Lasting Power of Attorney documents.
3.
We send you a summary for you to confirm.
4.
Once confirmed, we prepare and send out your original Lasting Power of Attorney documents for signing and we also act as your Certificate Provider.
5.
If registering straight away we then handle the application and if not, simply keep the documents stored safely (either with ourselves or your preferred place) so they are available for registration if/when needed.
Having a Lasting Power of Attorney should be as common and natural as making a Will
Jack Straw, former Lord Chancellor