Lasting powers of attorney (‘LPAs’)
An LPA is a legal document that lets you (the ‘donor’) appoint one of more people (known as ‘attorneys’) to make decisions on your behalf.
In the unfortunate event of you having an accident or sustaining an illness rendering you unable to make decisions at the time (i.e. you ‘lack mental capacity’), having registered finance and health lasting powers of attorney allows your attorneys to act in your best interests and to make decisions on your behalf.
There are two types of lasting powers of attorney (lpa)
- Health and Welfare (‘health lpa’); and
- Property and Financial Affairs (‘finance lpa’)
You can choose to make one type of lpa or both. Generally, it is advisable to have both lpas registered as these last for your lifetime or until you decide to change your attorneys. In such a case , your lpas can be cancelled immediately by contacting the Office of the Public Guardian.
Your Property and Financial LPA will give an attorney the power to make decisions about things like:
- Managing a bank account;
- Paying bills;
- Collecting benefits or pension;
- Selling your home.
It can be used as soon as it is registered, with your permission.
We have a policy at to retain original registered LPAs in our safe storage
and will request for a medical letter from the attending Medical Doctor advising that the donor is mentally incapacitated or an Authority from the donor, before releasing documents.
Your attorneys must always act in your best interest. This is particularly relevant when considering medical treatment or social care. If you have never discussed such issues with them, they may not know the care you would want and what you would regard as the minimum acceptable quality of life. If there is nothing in writing and a dispute arises over what is in your best interests, there is a question of how will your attorneys be able to show that they are only carrying out your wishes. We can discuss these points further in a meeting if you wish.
Once the Lasting Powers of Attorney have been signed by you both and all of your attorneys, they will need sending to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration. This takes around 3-6 weeks. Once they have been registered, we will forward certified copies to you.
There are fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian for the registration of your Lasting Powers of Attorney of £82 per LPA. This figure can be mitigated (by 50%) for each LPA if certain pre-tax annual income requirements are met, namely, that the said income for one or both of you does not exceed £12,000. You would need to provide proof of this, for example, a headed letter from your benefit/pension provider and any statement to which that letter would relate directly. Unfortunately, the OPG will not accept bank statements or anything older than 3 months.
This is general advice and is meant for information purposes only. It should not be relied upon and specific advice should be obtained on any legal problem.