Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)

Using Lasting Powers of Attorney you can arrange for someone else to look after either your financial affairs, or to make decisions about your health and welfare if you become unable to continue making those decisions yourself. The attorney (or attorneys) under a Lasting Power of Attorney can be members of your family, close friends or any other person that you feel can be trusted to make important decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so.

This is a simple precaution which we recommend that all of our clients put in place.

The ability to nominate someone to make decisions about where you should live, the type of care you should receive, and about your medical treatment in the event that you are mentally incapable of making those decisions yourself is something new. Until Lasting Powers of Attorney came into force on the 1st October 2007 there was no convenient way of delegating such decisions.

It has been possible for some years to appoint someone, or a group of people, to make decisions about your financial affairs under an Enduring Power of Attorney. Anyone who has made an Enduring Power of Attorney before the 1st October 2007 does not need to sign a Lasting Power of Attorney, because their existing Enduring Power of Attorney will continue to be fully effective.

If you have an Enduring Power of Attorney it is sensible from time to time to check whether the people appointed under that document remain the most suitable people to look after your financial affairs, and whether you are happy with any conditions specified in the document. If not then you should sign a Lasting Power of Attorney to change the terms of the document or the people who you have chosen to make decisions on your behalf.

If you would like to find out more about Lasting Powers of Attorney please contact one of our specialist advisers.

The Team