There are two types of LPA:

• A property and financial affairs LPA which allows your attorney to manage your bank accounts, investments, pensions, benefits, pay your bills and sell your property if needed.  This LPA can be used as soon as it has been registered, with your permission.
• A health and welfare LPA allows your attorney to make decisions about your daily routine, eg washing, dressing, eating, medical care, moving into a care home and life-sustaining treatment.  This LPA can only be used when you are unable to make your own decisions.

Who can make an LPA?

Anyone aged 18 or over, with the capacity to do so.

Registration of an LPA

An LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian ("OPG") before it can be used.  An unregistered LPA will not give the Attorney any legal powers to make a decision for the Donor. The Donor can register the LPA while they have capacity, or the Attorney can apply to register the LPA at any time.

The OPG takes approx 20 weeks to register your LPAs.

Lasting Powers of Attorney ("LPAs")

An LPA is a legal document that allows you (the Donor) to appoint someone (the Attorney) that you trust to make decisions on your behalf about your property and financial affairs and health and welfare during your lifetime if you become incapable of managing your own affairs.

An LPA can also be used if in older age you still have mental capacity to deal with your own affairs, but you would like your attorney to assist you in managing your affairs.  Your attorney must always act in your best interests and follow the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.

Making an LPA gives you more control over what happens to you if, for example, you have an accident or an illness and cannot make decisions at the time they need to be made (you ‘lack mental capacity’).

You have to have mental capacity to make an LPA so you put it in place for such time that it is needed.  It is like an insurance.

What happens if you do not have an LPA in place?

If you lose the capacity to deal with your own affairs and you do not have an LPA in place then your bank accounts would be frozen and your family would have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a deputy so that they can deal with your affairs on your behalf which is very time consuming and even more expensive than making LPAs!  Your deputy would then be accountable to the Court of Protection.

Hayley can act as your certificate provider to confirm that you understand what you are doing.

After your meeting, Hayley will send your LPAs to your attorneys to sign and then register your LPAs at the Office of the Public Guardian.  When your LPAs have been registered we can store them for you free of charge in our fireproof safe and send you copies, or you can store the original LPAs yourself in a safe place.