You might be wondering what exactly is a Lasting Power of Attorney. Essentially, a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that enables an individual to act on your behalf. This legal document is particularly helpful for those who want to choose a trusted person to act on their behalf when they cannot. This is usually when they do not have the mental capacity to do so. A Lasting Power of Attorney will allow someone you trust to make decisions about your finances and health as well as your living or care arrangements.
We understand that you will have lots of questions surrounding a Lasting Power of Attorney. We believe our helpful guide is the perfect way to help you answer these questions!
How Do you Appoint a Lasting Power of Attorney?
In order to appoint a Lasting Power of Attorney, you need to choose your attorney. This could be a relative, friend, partner or solicitor. Once you have decided your lasting power of attorney, then you have to fill in the appropriate forms to appoint them. This needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, which charges a fee of £82 for each document.
How Do you Decide on an Attorney?
Considering that the role of an attorney involves a significant amount of responsibility, it is vital that you trust the person you decide to select. As already mentioned, this could be your partner, friend, relative or solicitor. However, they must be over the age of 18. When choosing your attorney, they must be aware that you make your own decisions as much as possible, but they are able to step in if you are unable to. So how should an attorney act? They should be able to help you make decisions and act in your best interests, whilst simultaneously considering your feelings, beliefs and values and remembering your right to privacy.
At Harding Evans Solicitors, we have a wealth of experience when it comes to dealing with a Lasting Power of Attorney. Guaranteeing you the best advice, we are able to help you set up the legal document to cover you in the future.
What Health and Welfare Powers Do You Want Them to Have?
There are two types of the Lasting Power of Attorney document, with one of the types being solely dedicated to health and care decisions. This document is important in the sense that it covers health and care decisions when mental capacity has been lost. An attorney has the ability to make decisions about your medical care, where you live and who you have contact with. Therefore it is absolutely paramount that you choose someone that you trust to be your attorney.
Decisions surrounding life-sustaining treatment can also be controlled by an attorney. If you do not allow your power of attorney to make this decision, then any decision surrounding life-sustaining treatment will be made by the healthcare team.
What Financial and Property Powers Do You Want Them to Have?
Whilst one LPA covers health and care, the other document covers the financial side of things. Having the power of attorney means that they can make decisions on money and bills, pensions and benefits as well property and investments. Attorneys can then use your money to look after your home or buy any day-to-day essentials such as food. You should also consider whether your attorney has the authorisation to pay your household bills and renovate or repair your property. Considering the amount of legal authority an attorney has, it is vitally important you take advice from a solicitor at this stage.
How Long Does it Take to Register?
Once you have decided on your attorney and determined what power they will have in both the health and financial side of things, your Lasting Power of Attorney documents has to be sent to the Office of the Public Guardian to be registered. This process costs £82 and can take between eight to ten weeks. This is taking into consideration that there are no mistakes.
To minimise the risk of any mistakes being made when drawing up your Lasting Power of Attorney document, it might be a good idea to employ a solicitor to help guide you through the process. At Harding Evans Solicitors, we know exactly what it takes to build a flawless Lasting Power of Attorney document.
Can You Cancel Your Power of Attorney?
Even if your application has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, you can cancel your lasting power of attorney at any time. If you are thinking of cancelling your power of attorney, you need to have the mental capacity to do so. Furthermore, you must inform your attorneys and the Office of the Public Guardian so that they can remove this.
The power of attorney also automatically ends if the attorney or donor either passes away or becomes bankrupt. In addition to this, an LPA can be cancelled by the Court of Protection if they are led to believe that the attorney is not acting in the best interests of the donor.
Compromise Agreement Solicitors and Probate Solicitors
You might also be wondering what the purpose of both compromise agreement and probate solicitors are. When receiving a settlement agreement from your employer, it can be intimidating on how to approach it. Settlement or compromise agreements are legally binding documents that employers use to set out terms and conditions, these are usually agreed upon by the employer to resolve the dispute or end an employment relationship. Whether you are thinking of agreeing or negotiating the terms, Harding Evans Solicitors are here to help you with settlement agreement advice.
Probate solicitors job differs significantly from a compromise agreement solicitor in the sense that they help and support family members with a will. If you are thinking of making a will, it might be wise to contact a solicitor, as they have all the tools to guide you from the drafting process right through to the execution of the will. When it comes to the unfortunate passing of someone’s life, the role of the probate solicitor is to provide help by helping to sort inheritance law issues and apply for the grant of probate from the Probate Division of the High Court.
However probate without a will is where someone dies without a valid will, so the law determines who qualifies for the will and who is responsible for the probate. If there is no will, this might mean that the deceased’s estate is passed under the terms of the law, which might not fully match the wishes of the loved one who has passed. Therefore it is crucial to have their will sorted so that when the sad time of their passing does come, their estate is passed onto the intended people. Here at Harding Evans Solicitors, whilst we hold the strong belief that clients should expect the best legal advice, they should be treated as individuals too. The loss of a loved one can be a very challenging time both physically and mentally, therefore our probate solicitors treat our clients with the utmost compassion when supporting you with legal advice.
Get the Best Legal Advice from Harding Evans Solicitors
This guide may have just pointed out how complex Lasting Power of Attorney documents can be. From choosing the attorneys to filling out the actual LPA document, you need to make sure you are making the right decision at every step. It is therefore important that you get the best advice from the experts. At Harding Evans, we have a team of over one hundred highly trained solicitors to help you with your every need. Based in Newport, we have the capabilities to assist you with attorney documents and probate services, but also civil litigation and employment law. If you are convinced that Harding Evans solicitors are the right company for you, get in touch with our team today!
