Lasting Power of Attorney
It is hard to imagine that one day, due to an illness such as dementia, or a catastrophic disease or injury, you may lose the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself.
However, as we live longer, the risk of suffering from a lack of mental capacity increases.
A Lasting Power of Attorney will give you peace of mind that someone you trust can take care of your financial and health and care concerns for you. Our Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors have a wealth of experience in drafting LPAs and will take the time to ensure that your wishes are documented. We can also advise you on choosing your Attorneys and support them in their duties should the Lasting Power of Attorney come into effect.
We are a diverse, multi-lingual law firm that uses best-in-class technology to provide clients with streamlined, modern, and highly effective Wills, Trusts, Lasting Power of Attorney, and estate planning advice and representation. Based in our Coventry city centre offices, our solicitors have years of experience in private client law means we have a robust reputation for excellence with the UK’s best Barristers and King’s Counsel, Estate Agents, Independent Financial Advisers, Tax Advisors, Surveyors, and Business Succession Planning Advisors who can bring additional support to our Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning Department if required.
Below are some of the most common questions we are asked about Lasting Powers of Attorneys.
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows you (as the Donor) to appoint a person or people you trust (known as an Attorney) to manage your affairs if you become mentally incapacitated.
LPAs are generally divided into two types:
- those granted in relation to managing a person’s financial affairs
- those conferred for decisions about a person’s health and care
Powers under an LPA must be given by means of a deed (a legal document), which is signed by you and details the full extent and scope of the Attorney’s powers and ability to act on your behalf.
The LPA must state who you want to appoint as your Attorneys. This can include both primary Attorneys, and secondary Attorneys who will be appointed if the primary Attorney can no longer perform the role.
If you wish to have a financial LPA and a health and care LPA, you may decide to use the same Attorney for both. Alternatively, different Attorneys can be appointed.
How does an LPA for financial affairs work?
A financial affairs LPA can provide an Attorney will wide-ranging powers to act on your behalf. Your Attorney can be given the authority to pay bills, sell and manage property or investments, or simply administer your bank account.
Anyone who is over 18 can choose to create a financial LPA. Similarly, anyone who is over 18 and possesses the mental capacity to act as an Attorney can be appointed to do so. However, an Attorney cannot be bankrupt or the subject of a debt relief order when they are appointed.
Multiple Attorneys can be selected, though you will need to consider how such an arrangement is to work in practice, and whether the Attorneys will act individually or on a joint and several basis. We can advise you on this and all other matters relating to the LPA.
Authority to deal with financial affairs can also be used while you still have the mental capacity to act for yourself. However, you can specify in the deed that the LPA will only come into force if you lose mental capacity.
What is an LPA for health and care?
A health and care LPA allows you to appoint an Attorney to decide on the type of medical treatment you can receive, as well as your diet, where you live, and how you spend your time unless it is specified otherwise. This type of LPA can only be used when you, as the Donor, have lost mental capacity.
This decision-making capacity does not generally include decisions over whether you can be given life-sustaining treatment. These types of decisions will remain within the remit of medical professionals unless express provision is made in the deed or an End of Life Plan (sometimes referred to as a Care Plan).
I am not based in Coventry. Can you still represent me?
Our Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors regularly supports clients across the nation, not only those who are based in Coventry. The distance between you and our office will have no effect on our ability to provide highly effective advice, representation, or drafting your LPA.
Why choose us?
Our Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors will provide you with peace of mind that your affairs will be safely managed if you lose mental capacity temporarily or permanently.
People choose and recommend us because we care about them, their family, and their future. Our Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning Solicitors are focused on results and achieving them in the most cost-effective, efficient way possible. This is why we are one of the most successful and busiest private client lawyers in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Our clients recommend us not just in Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby and Leamington, but across Warwickshire, the Midlands and the whole of the UK.
To talk to us about creating a Power of Attorney, please contact us using the form below, call us on Coventry (02476) 231000, email enquiries@askewslegal.co. or visit us at our city centre offices in Coventry.