Lasting Powers of Attorney

These are documents that enable you to give legal authority to a person or persons who you trust, called Attorneys, to manage your affairs for you or make decisions on your behalf, when you are not in a position to do so yourself, for example following an accident, stroke or the onset of dementia.

There are two kinds of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), one that deals with your Property & Financial Affairs and one that deals with your Health and Welfare.

The former would enable your Attorneys to do things like draw your pension or pay your bills or sell your property on your behalf. The latter would enable your Attorneys to make decisions related to your health and personal welfare, for example what sort of care you receive, but this type of LPA can only be used once you lose mental capacity.

Both types of LPA must be registered by the Office of the Public Guardian, before they can be used by your Attorneys.

Although we all tend to think of Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney documents as useful for later life it’s important to think what would happen now if you were unfortunate enough to have an accident or serious illness.