Many of our middle-aged clients are signing up Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) as a direct consequence of their experience of dealing with the affairs of an elderly parent who did not have one. They do not want to put their children through the same hassle
Why? What happens if you lose mental capacity and you have not given an LPA? Answer: Neither you nor your family can mange your financial affairs or make decisions about your personal welfare. Your nearest relatives have to apply to the Court of Protection for a “Deputy” to be appointed. This is a complicated and expensive procedure.
By signing up an LPA, you simply appoint somebody else (the Attorney) to act on your behalf if and when you lose mental capacity to act. It cannot be used until it has been registered with the Court.
You can appoint one or more Attorneys, who must be over the age of 18. You can say whether your Attorneys have to act jointly or independently or you can state that they can act independently on some matters and jointly on others. For example, you could say that they have to act jointly on all transactions involving over £500.
You can also lay down guidelines for your Attorneys- e.g. whether they should use your funds to make gifts to friends, family and/or charity and even do a new Will for you
You can stipulate whether the Attorney can make decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment for you.
It goes without saying that you must trust your Attorney implicitly!
Here at Kaslers Solicitors LLP we can prepare the LPA for you for a fee of £400 plus VAT. The Court charge £300 to register, but if you do not require the document to be used immediately, we can defer the registration and arrange for you to pay monthly towards the Court fee
Telephone Vanessa Adamson on 01622 844607 for further information.
Labels: Lasting Power of Attorney Alzheimers schizophrenia dementia
# posted by michael @ 14:05