A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you, as the donor, appoint one or more people, the attorney(s), to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf.
This gives you more control over what happens to you if you have an accident or suffer an illness and cannot make your own decisions, i.e. you lack mental capacity.
There are two types of LPA:
1. Health & Welfare;
2. Property and Financial Affairs.
LPAs are so important and there can be dire consequences in the event that you do not prepare LPAs.
A recent example is TV personality Kate Garraway’s publicised financial and emotional woes following on from her husband being in a coma in the hospital due to Covid-19.
Although we are talking about a married couple here, this does not dominate the fact that certain bills, policies and accounts are in the husband’s name.
Kate Garraway says:
“One of the practical problems – which a lot of people would’ve experienced if they’ve got the absence of someone in their life – like many things the car is entirely in Derek’s name, the insurance in Derek’s name, a lot of our bank account.
There are a lot of financial outgoings that I’ve talked about… which is making life very complicated because I can’t get access to things… because legally I haven’t got power of attorney.”
Whilst it is important to prepare a Will, it is equally as important to prepare an LPA, for both health & welfare and property & financial affairs.
The information provided in this article is not intended to constitute legal advice and you should take full and comprehensive legal advice on your individual circumstances by a fully qualified Solicitor before you embark on any course of action.
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0207 183 4595
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