Why should you consider preparing a Lasting Power of Attorney?
A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to appoint attorneys to manage your Health and Welfare and/or Property and Financial affairs in the event of you ever lacking the mental capacity to manage them yourself.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legally binding document which means your instructions must be followed.
A Lasting Power of Attorney can be compared to an insurance policy as it is there in case you need to use it. You may never lose capacity so that the Lasting Power of Attorney can be used but it can bring peace of mind knowing that you have one in place.
In the instance that you do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place and you lose capacity, an application will have to be made to the Court of Protection to manage your Property and Financial affairs. This can be time consuming and can take up to 10 months.
Court of Protection applications are more expensive than Lasting Powers of Attorney.
Having a Lasting Power of Attorney in place keeps you in control of who is assisting you with your affairs.
Your attorneys must always act in your best interests and in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
If you are a business owner, you can prepare business Lasting Powers of Attorney to ensure your attorneys can manage your business if you lose capacity.
If you’d like to find out more about putting in place a Lasting Power of Attorney email me at helen.forster@htf-legal.co.uk or give me or one of my team a call on 01937 227830.