Lasting powers of attorney
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
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A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that enables you to appoint one or more people (a maximum of four “Attorneys”) to make decisions on your behalf during your lifetime. This is particularly important if you lose capacity during your lifetime.
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Types of Lasting Power of Attorney:
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Property & Financial: This allows your Attorney to deal with matters such as paying bills, managing your bank account and dealing with your property.
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Health & Welfare: This would allow your Attorney to make more personal decisions such as where you live, what you eat and wear and important decisions such as the provision of medical treatment and care home options.
For further information on lasting powers of attorney please click here >
What happens if you don’t make a Lasting Power of Attorney
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Without a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place, no one will have the legal authority to manage your affairs; access your banks accounts, savings and to sell your property on your behalf. It is a common misconception that a person’s next of kin and/or children will be able to do this without having an LPA in place. This is not correct.
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If a Lasting Power of Attorney is not in place and is needed, a person would need to apply to the Court of Protection and the Court will then decide on the person to be appointed to manage your affairs. The person chosen is appointed your “Deputy”. This is a very different type of appointment to an “Attorney”. It is significantly more involved and costly. It also takes on average around 12 months for a Deputyship order to be made, during which time your assets would become “frozen”.