County Bridge Wills
Lasting Power of Attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney appoints someone to make decisions on behalf of a person who is unable to do so for themselves. It can help you plan how your health, wellbeing and financial affairs will be looked after.
The different types of Lasting
Power of Attorney
Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney
A Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to choose one or more people to make decisions about your personal health and welfare. The Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney can only be used if you lack the ability to make decisions for yourself.
Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney
A Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney lets you choose one or more people to make property and financial affairs decisions for you. This could include decisions about paying bills or selling your home. You can include a condition that means the attorney can only make decisions when you lose the ability to do so yourself.
Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney
If you run a business and you become incapacitated through illness or have an accident and there is no LPA in place what happens to the bank account or day to day affairs of the business? Who can enter into contracts? What happens if wages cannot be paid? Is there a risk that the business might fold?
It is now possible to Appoint a trusted representative to deal with your business affairs with a Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney. This is a really important part of your business continuity plan.
The Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney or LPA is a legal document which allows you to appoint a trusted person to run your business who is completely separately from your personal affairs.
Why have a Lasting Power of Attorney?
It allows you to plan in advance:
- the decisions you want to be made on your behalf if you lose capacity to make them yourself
- the people you want to make these decisions
- how you want the people to make these decisions
Having a Lasting Power of Attorney is a safe way of maintaining control over decisions made for you because:
- it has to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used
- you choose someone to provide a ‘certificate’, which means they confirm that you understand the significance and purpose of what you’re agreeing to
- you can choose who gets told about your Lasting Power of Attorney when it is registered (so they have an opportunity to raise concerns)
- your signature and the signatures of your chosen attorneys must be witnessed
- your attorney(s) must follow the Code of Practice of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and act in your best interests
- the Office of the Public Guardian provides helpful support and advice
- no one can be forced into signing a Lasting Power of Attorney against their will – there are safeguards in the application process to prevent any undue influence.