Powers of Attorney

These are documents that enable you to give legal authority to a person or persons who you trust, to manage your affairs for you or make decisions for you when you lose mental capacity. Your power of attorney can then act on your behalf within the strict rules laid out by the legislation. Once registered they can act on your behalf, if you allow, whilst you are unable to act for example if you were stuck abroad or hospital bound.

As with making a Will there is no age to make these as the loss of mental capacity could occur at any stage following an accident or illness. 

There are two kinds of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) - one that deals with your Property & Financial Affairs and one that deals with your Health and Welfare. 

The Property and Financial Affairs LPA will enable your Attorneys to handle your financial affairs and your property affairs. This can range from withdrawing money from the bank, paying bills to selling your property.  The Health & Welfare LPA allows them  to make decisions related to your health and welfare, this can be things such as what type of care you are to recieve or which home you would go to. It can also include what activities you will be able to do. The powers for this LPA only come into effect on the loss of mental capacity.

Both types of LPA must be registered by the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used by your Attorneys. 

If you are a business owner it is important to consider getting a Property & Financial Affairs LPA drawn up and in force for your business as well as your own personal finaces. As in the majority of circumstances the best placed person would be different for your personal finances compared to your business finances.

As mentioned previously it is vital to get these documents in order as soon as possible to make sure you are protected in any event. Please contact Spa Wills at info@spa-wills.co.uk for more information or to arrange a call to discuss your options further.