A Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney (LPA) is a legal doc­u­ment appoint­ed by a sin­gle per­son, known as the Donor, that grants one or more per­son the sta­tus of Attor­ney. This allows them to make deci­sions relat­ing to health and wel­fare or finan­cial mat­ters on the Donor’s behalf should the Donor lose the abil­i­ty to make deci­sions for themselves.

Let the expert Solic­i­tors here at Jack­son Bar­rett and Gass answer some of your most fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions about Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney so you can make an edu­cat­ed deci­sion about your needs.

Why Should I Make a Last­ing Pow­er of Attorney?

There are a num­ber of dif­fer­ent rea­sons to make a Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney, but many peo­ple do so to pro­tect them­selves in case injury, ill­ness, or impairment.

If you are a busi­ness own­er, you may wish to cre­ate an LPA to ensure your busi­ness is man­aged appro­pri­ate­ly and by some­one you trust. Prop­er­ty own­ers may wish to make an LPA to ensure their prop­er­ties are main­tained or sold on depend­ing upon their preferences.

Who Should Make a Last­ing Pow­er of Attorney?

Many peo­ple believe that you don’t need to make a Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney until you are enter­ing old age, but this is false. In real­i­ty, some­thing that impacts your deci­sion-mak­ing abil­i­ty could hap­pen at any point in life. Did you know that nei­ther your rel­a­tives or your spouse are legal­ly allowed to make deci­sions con­cern­ing your health and wel­fare or finances with­out an LPA in place? Because of this, it’s vital to make an LPA in order to pro­tect your own well­be­ing in the future.

Who Should I Choose as an Attorney?

When choos­ing your Attor­ney or Attor­neys, it’s impor­tant to choose some­one you trust to look after your affairs. Any­one over the age of 18 can be an Attor­ney. The only stip­u­la­tion in the case of a Prop­er­ty and Finan­cial Affairs LPA is that he/​she/​they must not be bankrupt.

Peo­ple often choose mem­bers of their fam­i­ly or close friends to act as their Attorney/​s. You may also want to con­sid­er busi­ness part­ners or trust­ed pro­fes­sion­al advi­sors. If you appoint more than one Attor­ney, you can choose how you would like deci­sions to be made on your behalf. Attor­neys can either make deci­sions ​“Joint­ly” where they must make all deci­sions togeth­er or ​“Joint­ly and Sev­er­al­ly”, in which case they can act togeth­er or indi­vid­u­al­ly.

What Hap­pens if There is No Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney in Place?

If you lose the abil­i­ty to make your own deci­sions, and there is no LPA in place, you will need to apply to the Court of Pro­tec­tion which can be a long and drawn out process for your friends and fam­i­ly. Find out more about what hap­pens when you don’t have a Last­ing Pow­er of Attor­ney here.

Con­sid­er­ing mak­ing an LPA? We’d be hap­py to pro­vide advice and infor­ma­tion towards get­ting the process start­ed. Con­tact us today via email or on 01625 523988.