Why you should make a Lasting Power of Attorney
Why you should make a Lasting Power of Attorney
Many people never consider making a Lasting Powers of Attorney. We highlight 10 reasons why you should make a Lasting Power of Attorney.
10 top reasons to make a Lasting Power of Attorney
- You get to decide who to appoint to look after your property and financial affairs and/or your health and welfare issues.
- Should you need assistance with your financial matters but still have capacity, then your attorneys can assist you provided you specify in the LPA.
- Under the Property and Financial Affairs LPA, your attorneys can pay your bills, buy or sell property for you, pay your mortgage, invest money and maintain your property.
- Under a Health and Welfare LPA, your attorneys can make decisions such as where you live, what treatment you receive, what you wear, who you see and what you eat. These powers are only activated when you have lost capacity.
- If you have lost capacity, you can allow your attorneys to also make life-sustaining treatment decisions for you under the health and welfare LPA.
- Without a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, your family will not be able to assist you as there is no such legal concept as next of kin.
- If you have not made a Lasting Power of Attorney and lose mental capacity, then an application will have to be made to the Court of Protection to appoint a deputy which can take 6-9 months, or sometimes longer.
- An application for a deputyship will cost considerably more in legal and Court fees and as a deputy, you are monitored by the Court of Protection. Accounts must be rendered every year and fees such as security bond, assessment and supervision fees will need to be paid by the deputy from the incapacitated person’s assets. Making LPAs whilst you still have capacity will save money in the long term should you lose capacity.
- Making LPAs will save your loved ones from unnecessary difficulty and distress should you lose capacity because, without it, they will not have the authority to access your funds and make decisions in your best interests.
- You have peace of mind for the future.
Making a Lasting Power of Attorney is relatively straight forward and we can do this for you at a fixed cost.
