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Protect your future by making an LPA
Protect Your Future by Making an LPA
What happens if you become incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself? Making a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) lets you take control of your future by allowing you to choose who makes decisions on your behalf if anything happens to you.
How Can an LPA Give You Peace of Mind?
None of us know what’s around the corner, but having an LPA in place gives you peace of mind that, whatever life throws at you, you are prepared. No matter what, you want to know that someone you trust has control over your finances and your health & wellbeing. They’ll follow the instructions which have been been dictated by you in the event of you being unable to handle things yourself.
By creating an LPA, you can nominate someone (or a group of people) you trust to act on your behalf, following the wishes you’ve put into your LPA. They’ll carry out duties as per your instruction, ensuring that everything goes how you’d want it to. This can be a temporary arrangement if you simply can’t be there in person, if you’re ill or unable to handle things yourself, or could even be long term if you lose mental capacity.
An LPA gives you complete confidence that no matter what’s around the corner, things won’t simply fall by the wayside without you there to handle things. With ultimate flexibility, it works for you and your best interests. They’re even covered by the Office of the Public Guardian, so you know you have someone in your corner watching over things, making sure everything is done with your best interests at the forefront.
LPA Meaning…
An LPA stands for Lasting Power of Attorney. There are two types: a Financial LPA and a Health & Welfare LPA. They’re legal documents which are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and allow an individual, known as the “Donor”, to pass responsibility for their health and finances to the people they nominate, known as “Attorneys”. You can choose a single Attorney, but we always recommend choosing at least two to work alongside each other. You can have up to 4, with 2 acting as reserves, if you want to really belt and brace it! The Donor writes their preferences into the LPA, which gives directions to the Attorneys as to how they’d like them to act on their behalf, for example, how they’d like their money handled or which hospital they’d prefer to be be in. These are an option, however. If you’re happy to let your attorney handle everything as they see fit, you don’t need to get down to the nitty gritty!
The concept of an LPA came into effect after the The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (which came into force on October 2007) demanded better resources for those who needed support with their welfare and finances when they lost capacity to do so for themselves. It’s a completely flexible solution which is a lot more accessible to everyone, and many improvements were made to the previous way of handling these issues, which was known as an Enduring Power of Attorney. You can read more about the difference between these two documents here.
Learn More in Our LPA Guides…
Financial LPA
Make plans for how your finances can be used by your appointed attorney(s).
Health and Welfare LPA
Use your LPA to determine how you’re cared for medically and who provides your personal care.
Who Can I Appoint as My Attorney?
Anyone you want! You can even nominate more than one attorney. This can be useful if your preferred option is unable to undertake the responsibility at the time, or if you want to split the responsibilities between multiple people. Any attorney appointed must meet the following criteria, though:
They must be at least 18 years of age.
They can be a family member, friend or professional acting on your behalf.
They can’t be in undischarged or interim bankruptcy if they’re going to be named on a financial LPA.
You must be confident that they’ve got the ability to make these decisions for you.
If you’re naming more than one attorney on the same LPA, you need to make sure they have a good relationship.
You need to have spoken to them before naming them as your attorney, and be sure they understand the responsibilities involved.
They’ll need to sign the LPA, officially accepting the role and responsibilities outlined in the document.
The document must include each attorney’s full name, address, date of birth, contact telephone number and email address.
Do I need an LPA if I’m married?
Most people assume that if you have a spouse, they’d automatically be given authority to deal with your finances and make decisions regarding your healthcare if you can’t do so yourself. This isn’t the case, and can cause additional undue stress should you be unable to deal with your affairs personally.
Having an LPA in place ensures that if you need your spouse to step in on your behalf, they can. This will give them official authority and make sure they can handle your affairs if they need to.
Are LPAs regulated to protect the Donor?
Even if you truly trust someone, you may still feel nervous about handing over control of your healthcare or finances to someone else – especially if you don’t have capacity to keep tabs on what’s happening.
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is the government body that oversees Lasting Powers of Attorney. Their role is to safeguard the Donor and their interests, protecting them from any exploitation by an Attorney. If you or anyone else feels that your appointed Attorneys aren’t acting in your best interests, they can make a report to the OPG, Social Services or the police who will step in and investigate.
If an attorney is found to be acting against the best interests of the Donor, they can face serious legal repercussions. If you don’t have capacity, you aren’t able to remove an Attorney from your LPA, but the OPG can do this on you behalf if they feel it’s in your best interests. This is why we always recommend having more than one Attorney on your LPA.
An abuse of power may be dealt with by the courts, dependent on the severity of the case. Any fraudulent activity will be investigated and handled the same as criminal activity and will result in the Attorney being prosecuted. So, as you can see, you’re not alone when you create an LPA. The Office of the Public Guardian are always there to monitor your LPA and support you even if you’ve lost capacity.
Can I Change my LPA and Take Back Control?
Yes! You’re not completely handing over control to your Attorney long-term, if you don’t want to. If, for example, you were in hospital for a week after an accident or illness, and your Attorney used the LPA to make healthcare choices for you, once you leave hospital and are fighting fit again, you simply let them know you no longer need them to act on your behalf. You don’t need to officially end, or “revoke” the LPA, so it can still be kept active in the event you need it again in the future.
If you do want to fully revoke the LPA, you can do so by contacting the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), but if you only want to make changes to your Attorneys it may not be necessary. You can remove an Attorney if you wish, by sending a written statement to the OPG called a “partial deed of revocation”. This is handy if, for example, you’ve got several people listed but one of them is not longer able to act on your behalf, or you’ve simply changed your mind.
Adding a new Attorney isn’t as straightforward, however. If you wish to choose someone else to be added to your LPA, or make changes to your wishes in the document, you will need to revoke the existing version and create a whole new LPA. Remember, if you want to change or revoke an LPA you can only make these changes if you have capacity at the time.
LPA vs EPA
Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) were replaced in 2007 with LPAs as they weren’t very flexible and contained many shortfalls. Although any EPAs which were created before this date still remain valid, you’re not able to create one today. The LPA carries many improvements on the old system, including:
- The Attorney no longer has to apply to the courts in order to enact the LPA when the donor has lost capacity
- Bigger life choices can be made by the Attorney carrying out wishes in an LPA compared that those in an EPA, for example where the Donor lives
- An EPA would become valid as soon as it was signed – an LPA needs to be registered with the OPG before it can be used, so you’re protected
Having the protection of the OPG is a huge bonus of having an LPA, and the way they work are designed to safeguard the Donor much more stringently. If you want to revoke an EPA and create a new LPA, that’s totally possible. Get in touch with us to find out more.
Why use our Professional LPA Service?
You’d like someone you trust to control your assets when you can’t manage them yourself.
You’ve got an illness which might prevent you from managing your assets personally.
You’re travelling or relocating overseas and you own a property or have assets in the UK.
To ensure family or friends are authorised to manage your assets if you can’t yourself.
What’s The Cost of an LPA?
We offer three types of LPAs: Financial, Health and Welfare, and a combination of the two at a discounted price. Please keep in mind that the price below is the service charge. You’ll also be subject to a submission fee to officially register your LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). As this varies on your circumstances, we can only give you a complete estimate on costs once we’ve got the necessary information.
Financial LPA
Manage your finances
£150.00 Per Document
A Financial LPA can be vital in determining how your finances can and can’t be used, if for some reason you’re unable to make that decision yourself.
Health and Welfare LPA
Take care of your health
£150.00 Per Document
A Health and Welfare LPA allows you to put the responsibility of your care in the hands of someone you trust, if the day ever comes where you’re unable to care for yourself.
Finance & Health LPA
BEST VALUE OPTION
£240.00 Per Document
Our combined Finance & Health LPA lets you dictate how your finances and health care should be managed if you’re unable to make those decisions for yourself.
Questions
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No, an attorney can be anyone who meets the criteria outlined on our page here.
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In normal circumstances, any spouse named as an attorney in an LPA will lose their position if a marriage is dissolved. It’s possible, however, to include a clause in your LPA which will allow your spouse to continue acting as your attorney if you want them to.
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Generally, your LPA will only be recognised in the jurisdiction where it was created. For example, an LPA created in England and Wales may not be recognised in Scotland or Northern Ireland. It depends entirely on the person you’re presenting it to (outside of the jurisdiction) as to whether they choose to act upon it or not.
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You’ve got to apply to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to register it. As soon as you receive confirmation that it’s been officially registered, the document is then legally binding. It won’t, however, become effective until you activate the LPA directly when required.
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No. If there’s an LPA in place, any control the attorney had over the donors finances and estate ends upon death. The named attorney will need to notify the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) of the death, as well as provide them with a copy of the original document and a copy of the death certificate.
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If you only appoint one attorney in your LPA and they die or become unable to complete their attorneyship for whatever reason, you’ll need to create a new agreement. You can, however, name more than one attorney in your LPA to prepare for such a scenario if you wish, by naming a Replacement Attorney.
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This is fully your choice. You can give joint powers in decision making, appoint a lead attorney and name someone else to act if they are unable as a Replacement Attorney, or divide individual tasks to a set of individual attorneys as you see fit. Just be clear in the wording of your wishes and make sure they’re outlined clearly to avoid confusion.
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Yes, you can revoke an attorney if you don’t want them acting for you anymore. You’ll need to do this officially, by creating a new LPA if you wish to appoint a new individual, or just notify the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) that you wish to cancel the document.
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