If you’ve been around here a while, you’ve probably heard us talking about power of attorney, or PAs, before. It’s never a nice thing to think about, growing old, but there are a number of health and legal issues that go along with it, and they need your attention sooner rather than later.
Sadly, I, in 6 of us will develop some form of dementia as we get older, so we need to put some protections in place for ourselves, just in case. Setting up Lasting Power of Attorney documents for medical and financial decisions is the best way to do that. So today, we’re going to walk you through the process of setting up your LPA’s, from start to finish.
Choosing Your Attorneys
Perhaps the most important part of the whole process is choosing who you want to be your lasting power of attorney for each type of document. You’ll need one for property and finance, and one for medical. You could choose the same people, or they could be different.
This is a decision you need to make carefully because these people will be in charge of acting on your behalf if you lose your capacity. So a degree of long-term trust is very important. Equally, you should make sure the person/people you choose are comfortable making decisions for you and understands what your wishes would be in those situations. You can choose anyone you like to be your attorney -family, friends, a professional or even a trust corporation. Generally, we recommend having at least 2 attorneys acting jointly and severally (together or independently) so that if anything happens to one of them, the remaining attorney can continue to act for you and one of them can make a decision insolation in an emergency.
The Conditions For Attorneys
When choosing your attorney, you will be happy to learn that there aren’t many restrictions. In fact, there are only 2 for health and 4 for finance.
Health & Care LPA: Your chosen attorney must be over 18 and possess full mental capacity.
Financial LPA: The individual must be over 18, with full capacity and must not be bankrupt. If someone you choose to be a financial attorney becomes bankrupt in the future, they will not be able to act and you will need to appoint a new attorney.
Will You Use A Professional?
Once you’ve chosen your LPA attorneys and discussed your wishes and their responsibilities with them, it’s time to get the actual document written up. This can be done one of two ways – you can do it yourself using one of the government’s online services, or you can hire a professional to do it for you. While the DIY approach may be cheaper, it’s often a lot more complex as well.
The main thing to remember is that LPAs are very powerful legal documents. What’s contained within these documents will dictate who will have your life, assets and health in their hands if you’re deemed unable to handle them yourself. As with anything legal, the way things are phrased is incredibly important. Phrase something wrong and you could end up with decisions being made that you never would have agreed to. They also need to be attested (signed and witnessed) in a certain order, and it is worth considering adding additional clauses that enable an attorney to continue charitable donations, or appoint fund managers. So while it may cost a little more, it’s worth using a professional.
Information To Include
There is a lot of information you will need to include in each LPA, and it all needs to be as accurate as possible. You can find a full list of info required here, but the key things to include are:
- Your information
- The name and signature of your certificate provider
- The name and signatures of your witnesses
- ‘Who to notify’ information (which adds security and allows these people to raise any concerns about your LPA before it’s registered, in case they think you’re being pressured into making it)
- The full details of your attorney/s
- Details of how your attorneys are to make decisions (solely, jointly, jointly and severally, or a mix depending on the issue)
- When your attorneys can make decisions (as soon as the LPA is registered, or only once you’ve lost mental capacity)
- Your preferences and instructions for that LPA (so how your finances should be handled or what your medical wishes are)
That’s a lot of information! It’s just one of the reasons we recommend using a professional to help you.
Registering Your LPA
Now that you be created your LPA’s, you need to register it. All LPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before they can be considered legal to use. While you don’t have to register your LPA straight away, we strongly recommend that you do. This way any mistakes can be caught, and you can be sure it’s ready and in place before you lose capacity.
It is, at the time of writing, taking between 6 and 9 months for an LPA to be registered, and it will only be accepted if you currently have your mental capacity. You can apply online or by post, and there’s a small fee to pay (£82 for each LPA filed). If you’re on low income, you might be eligible for an exemption. It’s also important to note that if you make a mistake on your LPA and it’s rejected, you will need to fix the mistake within 3 months and pay an additional £41.
At GP Norgate Estate Planning we know how confusing all of this can be, and costly if you don’t get it right. That’s why we provide a dedicated LPA service to guide you through every step from the first decision to registering your finished LPA. For more information, just get in touch with the team today.