LASTING POWERS OF ATTORNEY/COURT OF PROTECTION APPOINTED DEPUTY

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that you make in order to appoint someone you trust to be your attorney and to deal with your property and financial affairs or personal welfare if there comes a time that you lose your mental capacity and become incapable of doing so.

The Lasting Power of Attorney can be drawn up at any time whilst you still have the mental capacity to do so.  It needs to be registered at the Office of the Public Guardian and can only be used once it has been registered.

There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney one dealing with your Property and Financial Affairs and the other dealaing with your Personal Welfare.  The LPA for Property and Financial Afffairs allows your attorney to make day to day decisions in respect of your money and property.  The LPA for Personal Welfare allows your attorney to make important decisions in connection with your day to day care and whether to consent or refuse medical examination or treatment on your behalf.

You can appoint more than one attorney and you can decide whether they should act together on all or some decisions.

We charge a set fee for preparing and registering your Lasting Powers of Attorney.

There are occasions when people lose the mental capacity to deal with their own affairs without having made a Lasting Power of Attorney.  In this situation you may wish to consider asking the Court of Protection to appoint you as a deputy to enable you to help by making necessary decisions.

In appointing you as a deputy the Court of Protection will make an order setting out the powers which you can exercise and the decisions that you have authority to make on behalfof the person for whom you are deputy.  These can relate to the person’s property and financial affairs and personal welfare