Lasting Power of Attorney
If you lose capacity either through an accident or illness such as a stroke or dementia, someone needs to act on your behalf to carry out your personal and financial affairs. Losing legal capacity to make decisions for yourself will mean that your bank accounts are frozen until someone can be appointed to make decisions for you. This can cause a lot of distress for friends and family as bills cannot be paid and pensions or benefits cannot be accessed. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) specifically deals with the appointment of one or more people to manage your affairs if you are unable to do so. There are two types of LPA; one to choose who can make financial decisions for you (LPA Property & Finance) and the other to choose who can make personal, medical or care decisions for you (LPA Health & Welfare). Trying to arrange a Lasting Power or Attorney (LPA) after someone has already lost mental capacity can be very difficult if not sometimes impossible. Other more costly options need to be explored if this is the case. One of these options is known as a Deputyship Order which is more expensive and has many limitations as opposed to an LPA. We always recommend to arrange a Lasting Power of Attorney sooner rather than later to ensure your affairs are dealt with by the person you want, rather than the courts. It also means that you will not incur expensive legal costs.