Lasting Powers of Attorney

 If you don’t have an LPA and you lose capacity, the impact on your partner and family can be huge. 

Many banks, care providers and medical professionals will insist an LPA is in place. Without a Lasting Powers of Attorney you would have to apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship order. This can take a minimum of 6 months and can cost up to £4-5,000 per person.

During this time, any joint bank accounts may be frozen and the deputy would be under much closer scrutiny. The Courts may ask them to submit more documentation – all at a time of great stress and uncertainty.

 Above all, we counsel having both types of LPA to ensure your attorneys can cater for your needs, whatever situation you find yourself in. 

Making Lasting Powers of Attorney is easy. You tell us who you’d like to appoint as your ‘attorney’ and in what circumstances. Once signed by all parties, LPA documents need to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. They need to be registered before they can be used although it’s not a legal requirement to do so immediately. 

If a person was to lose mental capacity before their LPAs were registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, their proposed attorneys could register the document on their behalf. 

 We will help you decide how to structure your LPA; If you’ve chosen two different attorneys you will need to tell us whether you want to appoint them to act together or independently.

We will also discuss the importance of registering your Lasting Powers of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) so that it becomes a legally binding document