Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs)

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) allow you (the Donor) to appoint one or more people (known as Attorneys) the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf, about your financial affairs and health and welfare, if you were to lose mental capacity.

Many believe that Lasting Powers of Attorney are only needed as you get older – but this is simply not the case, as it may be an accident, or sudden illness that renders you unable to make your own decisions.

A Lasting Power of Attorney can only be made while the person making it is deemed to still have the mental capacity to make their own decisions and understand what they are agreeing to. If no attorneys have been appointed, and the person’s mental capacity deteriorates to a point where it is no longer possible to make an LPA, the Court of Protection would have to appoint a Deputy to deal with any financial matters, and medical staff and Social Services would be responsible for making Health and Welfare decisions on the person’s behalf. This can cause untold distress to both you and to your loved ones, creating problems that could easily have been avoided.

There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney:

Property & Financial Affairs LPA

This allows your attorney (who will be a responsible person or persons of your choosing) to manage your financial and property affairs. This means you can authorise them to write cheques on your behalf, pay bills or claim benefits for you. By planning ahead, you are able to give your instructions while you are of sound mind, and in anticipation of the possibility of not being capable at some future date. This provides invaluable peace-of-mind in the unfortunate eventuality of you being rendered incapable of managing your own affairs.

Health & Welfare LPA

This allows you to authorise someone to make health and welfare decisions for you and can only be used if you lose the necessary mental capacity to do this for yourself. Your attorney will be then able to make decisions about where you live and your day-to-day care, having already discussed this with you.  They will also be able to refuse or consent to medical treatment on your behalf if you desire.

If mental capacity is lost and there are no Lasting Powers of Attorney in existence, then any bank accounts would be frozen, even if held jointly, and an application would have to be made to the Court of Protection which is a lengthy, expensive process during which time no money can leave the account to pay bills or fund care.

An LPA can be made at any time but has to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used – and in current circumstances this can take up to 20 weeks.  However, once it is registered it is available for use as soon as it is needed.

If you were struck down by sudden illness or disability (for example, from a stroke or an accident) and did not have Lasting Powers of Attorney in place, there would inevitably be considerable delays before any financial matters could be dealt with or important decisions about your care could be made.  An application to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship can only be made once a person with no Attorney in place has lost capacity, which means a delay of 6 months or more before the Court Order is issued and the Deputy can be of any assistance – a time-consuming, expensive and frustrating exercise which could have been avoided.

Think of it like travel insurance – you hope you won’t ever need to use it but would not consider going on holiday without it. Your Attorney may never need to use the LPA, but if you were unable to look after your affairs and do not have one in place, the alternative does not bear thinking about.

It’s never too early to make one, just don’t leave it too late!

See more advice in our preparing for a death checklist.