A Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that enables you to delegate decisions about your care and finances to someone you trust in the event that you are unable to make decisions yourself.
There are two types of LPA – Health and Welfare and Financial.
The Health and Welfare LPA enables your chosen Attorney ( this can be an individual or a number of individuals) to act on your behalf should you lose mental capacity. The Attorney cannot make the decision about your mental capacity, this decision can only be made by a medical professional.
The types of decisions that the Attorney can help with under the Health and Welfare LPA include decisions about your medical care, including medication, surgery and life support. In addition, they can also have an input on where you might live should you be unable to live on your own.
When choosing an Attorney to make these decisions for you it is important that you select someone who knows what your wishes and needs are would be down to the last detail. For example, you may have food intolerances or you might prefer a vegan diet, there may be places you hate to live and foods you cannot stand.
The Health and Welfare LPA cannot come into force until you are deemed my a medical professional to have lost capacity.
The Finance and Property LPA can come into force when you want it to. There are times when you might feel you need help with aspects of your finances, such as sorting out a banking issue, paying bills and so on, but you don’t have the ability to sort them out yourself. In this instance the Attorney can act on your behalf.
Should you lose mental capacity due to illness or accident, your Attorney can take over all aspects of your finances, making sure bills are paid and sorted out, stocks and shares are monitored and your rent or mortgage is kept up to date.
The individuals you choose to act on your behalf on each LPA can be different. The number of people you appoint as your Attorneys will depend on whether you are happy for an individual to act alone or whether you would like them to make joint decisions with another attorney.
The process of setting up an LPA can feel daunting. There is a lot to consider so it’s important to understand all the facts and ask the right questions. At Bees and Co we take you through the process step by step and it is only signed off once you are completely happy with the contents.
Key terms to understand:
- Court of Protection – a department of the High Court in the UK that deals with the protection and rights of an individual who lacks the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.
- Donor – the individual making the LPA.
- Attorney – the individual or individuals appointed by the Donor to act on their behalf.
If you need to set up your LPA get in touch with us here: https://beesandco.com/contact
