LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY
WHO WILL MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU IF YOU ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (which supersedes the previous 'Enduring Power of Attorney') is a powerful legal document that allows you to appoint one or more people to make decisions on your behalf should you have an accident, fall ill, or require some assistance from a loved one.
*An Enduring Power of Attorney was formally put in place however no longer exists. Only those made before October 2007 are valid. Enduring Power of Attorney's only covered Property & Financial affairs. We offer a service to update this to include Health & Welfare affairs.
There are two types to consider:
Health & Welfare
This covers all care issues and consent for medicine and treatment
Property & Financial
This covers paying bills, liaising with all companies, looking after money and all property affairs
Without a nominated attorney your loved ones could end up having to go to court and applying for Deputyship (the legal term for gaining the power to make decisions for somebody once they have lost mental capacity) which can cost thousands of pounds and is a very lengthy process.
Many people who have taken out Power of Attorney come to find that they only have one of the two powers. We pride ourselves on providing the full service including both powers. We
will even register the documents meaning a hassle-free service and ready to use when required.
1. Westcountry Estate Planning take the Lasting Power of Attorney instruction from the client
2. We then draft your Lasting Power of Attorney documents at the office
3. Once drafted, we make arrangements to visit the client to gain all relevant signatures including visiting and corresponding with all attorneys/replacement attorneys
4. The documents are put through a proofing service to ensure that there are no errors. Once complete, they are then submitted to 'The Office of the Public Guardian' for registration.
5. Once we receive the registered documents back, these are then sent to the client.
*The Office of the public guardian, an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, are responsible for registering all UK Lasting Power of Attorney's. They protect people without capacity and are also responsible for supervising deputyship orders/deputies appointed by The Court of Protection
We do not know what the future holds and it is because of this that everybody should have a Lasting Power of Attorney.
For any general enquiries or to arrange a free home visit please fill in the below contact form (please read the privacy policy before submitting):
Telephone: 0800 133 7512
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