Powers of Attorney
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)?
- A document which authorises another person(s) to make decisions on your behalf in relation to your health and welfare and your property and financial affairs
- LPA’s replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) in 2007
There are two types of LPA’s of which you can create:
- The Property and Affairs LPA
- The Health and Personal Welfare LPA
A. What is the Property and Affairs LPA?
- Similar to the EPA
- Your Attorney can manage your finances such as day to day decisions on how your finances should be run
- It is up to you how much control you give to your Attorney and you can do this by placing restrictions into your LPA
- You can specify that you want your Attorney to commence their duties only in the event that you lack mental capacity. Otherwise, your Attorney can commence their duties once your LPA has been registered.
B. What is the Health and Personal Welfare LPA?
- This LPA gives your Attorney the right to make decisions that you make every day about your health and personal welfare.
- This is all dependant upon what you have stated within your LPA about how much control you want your attorneys to have
- This type of LPA only operates when you have lost mental capacity and allows your Attorneys to make decisions about your: diet, dress, daily routine, medical treatment,
- Or serious matters such as:
- Giving or refusing life sustaining treatments
- Staying in your home / support needed
- Moving into a residential home
- Consenting to operations / health care
- Your attorney can only act within the powers that you provide them with
- Our WTP solicitors will help you devise a well thought out LPA
The Attorney:
- Attorneys are given a very responsible position
- They must act in your best interests
- Attorneys are answerable to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and must comply with the Mental Capacity Act 2005
- You must choose your Attorney carefully and only appoint someone who you can trust 100%
- Your Attorney should be someone who you know well and who will listen to your needs and be able to deliver your wishes
- You can have more than one Attorney, but you need to decide whether they are to make decisions together or separately
- You can appoint a professional or a trust corporation to act as your attorney
Certificate Providers:
LPA’s are much longer and more complex than EPA’s, however they are designed to offer better protection for you. LPA’s consist of:
- A long form
- A certificate which proves you understand the form, that the form is not fraudulent or that you were not put under any pressure to create your LPA
The certificate provider is the person who signs the certificate. One of our WTP Solicitors can be the certificate provider for you. Alternatively, the certificate provider can be someone that you have known personally for at least two years, as long as they are not:
- A member of your family or your Attorney’s family
- A business partner or an employee of you or your Attorney
- An Attorney in your existing LPA or EPA
- The Owner or employee at your care home
- A director or employee of the trust in your LPA
Named Persons:
When registering your LPA with the OPG, you must either notify someone of your intention to register your LPA or alternatively have your LPA certified by two certificate providers. The purpose of notifying someone is so that person can:
- Identify any concerns about the registration and object on one of the prescribed grounds
Contact our Wills, Trusts and Probate team who can arrange a meeting with you and talk you through the Powers of Attorney process on 0161 926 9969.
