A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document that a person can prepare to provide specific people with the authority to make decisions on your behalf, should they lose the necessary mental capacity to make those decisions themselves.
A Donor (the person creating the Lasting Power of Attorney) will appoint the people they choose to act as their Attorneys (the people who have the authority to make decisions on the Donor’s behalf), to act once the Donor has lost mental capacity, therefore avoiding any delay, complications or unnecessary costs involved with an application to the Court of Protection. Decisions can include matters of property and finances, as well as the health and welfare decisions, which give your attorneys the authority to make decisions about your treatment, which can be invaluable.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is an inexpensive and vastly important document that can help protect your assets, your welfare and even your family. For this reason, everyone should have one.
If anything should happen to you, any assets you may have will be frozen and your family will not be able to access them to pay for anything you need, this means that any care provider, landlord or mortgage company for example will not be able to get paid, which may leave you homeless or in a very poor state. Even with jointly held assets such as bank accounts and properties, these assets will be frozen, even to the other owner because jointly owned assets are not able to be segregated without severing them, but you must have mental capacity to do this. This means that the other joint asset owner will not be able to access their funds or assets.
Even with your medical and welfare needs, should anything happen to you, your family will not have an automatic right to decide what medical treatment you get or even if you are kept at home should you need care or which home or hospital you go in to. This means that things such as religious beliefs, preferences or things you’d like to happen to you should you lose mental capacity or go unconscious, may not be carried out as you family may not have the proper authority to speak on your behalf. For further information on how Lasting Powers of Attorney can help you, your assets and your family, please contact us.