A Power of Attorney is a legal document whereby a person, called a Donor, gives another person, named Attorney, the authority to make decisions with regard to their financial affairs and/or their health and personal welfare.

Ordinary Power of Attorney

You may draw up an Ordinary Power of Attorney in cases where you are going abroad or are otherwise unable to deal with your finances and you wish to appoint someone to deal with your finances while you are unable. The Ordinary Power of Attorney may be drawn up for a specific period and may be general or limited to cover specific duties.

Lasting Power of Attorney

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA’s) are documents which give another person the authority to assist you with your financial matters in the event that you become incapacitated and unable to do it by yourself. The creation of a Lasting Power of Attorney is essential to ensure your wishes for personal care are known and to enable continued financial housekeeping especially if inheritance tax planning is required.

LPA’s constitute two forms, one for Personal Welfare and one for Property and Affairs. You may create authority for one or both but if you draw up both each document must be registered separately.

Once the Donor has lost the capacity to make decisions themselves, the Lasting Powers of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before the Attorneys are able to act.

The Lasting Powers of Attorney are signed by you as the Donor to appoint one or more than one Attorney to act on your behalf. If there is more than one Attorney, the Attorneys may act together or act separately. The LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian immediately, in order to be registered it will need to be accompanied with a certificate confirming that the donor understands the effect of the LPA and that there is no fraud or undue pressure on the donor.

Once the LPA is registered, third parties such as banks or medical professionals will need to see a copy of the document before they will accept an Attorney’s instructions. A Donor can revoke their LPA at any time provided they have the mental capacity to do so.

Our Firm’s fee for assisting you in drawing up the Lasting Powers of Attorney will be calculated on a time spent basis. The current Registration Fee for the Court of Protection if required is £150.00.