A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document which allows you to appoint someone who you trust to be an ‘attorney’. This person can then legally help support you to make decisions on your behalf when you no longer wish to, or when you lack the capacity to do so. There are two sets of powers that can be granted either singly, separately or as one.

Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney

This document lets you choose which people can make decisions regarding your property and financial affairs. This could include decisions about paying bills, investing income or selling your home. You can include a condition that means the attorney can only make decisions when a doctor confirms you have lost the ability to do so yourself.

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 for things such as where you are looked after and which medical treatments to accept. This element of the document can only be used if you lack the ability to make the decisions for yourself.

Your Attorney

You can choose someone to make important decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so yourself, and they are called an attorney. They must:

• Help and enable you to make your own decisions where possible
• Always make decisions in your best interests
• Only make decisions that the terms of the Lasting Power of Attorney allow them to make
• Not pass on the powers they have been given unless authorised to do so
• Keep your affairs confidential
• Make sure their decisions benefit you and not them

If you do not have anyone close to you that you think would be a suitable attorney, or you are reluctant to choose between potential beneficiaries, we are happy to be appointed as your attorney.  Please contact us for the details of our charges.

Fees

We charge £425 plus VAT for a pair of LPAs; Property and Financial Affairs, and Health and Welfare. In addition to our costs, when a Lasting Power of Attorney is registered, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) charges £82 per document.

(If your income is less than £12,000 the OPG fee is reduced to £41.00. If you are in receipt of housing/council tax benefit their fee is waived.)

Please call us on 02392 658315 for more information.