Making a Lasting Power of Attorney

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A LPA is a legal document that lets you, the donor, appoint one or more people to help you make decisions or to make them on your behalf. This means that if you have an accident or an illness that affects your mental capacity, the appointed person(s) can make the decisions for you. These decisions can range from medical care to paying bills, depending on which LPA you choose.

Why make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA): the Property and Financial Affairs LPA and the Health and Welfare LPA. Whilst you can pick whichever suits you, we at Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors recommend setting up both for better peace of mind.

With a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, you authorise someone to manage your financial affairs. Unlike a Health and Welfare LPA, this can be used straight away once it has been registered. A Property and Financial LPA will cover a range of matters such as your bills, bank accounts, benefits, pension, investments, and property.

A Health and Welfare LPA relates more to decisions considering your health. This LPA can only be used once your capacity has been lost and you are no longer able to make your own decisions. It will give the appointed person(s) the authority to decide your medical care, medical treatment, and if necessary long term care.

Do not assume that your spouse, partner or next of kin would automatically make decisions over your financial affairs or welfare. If you do not have a LPA in place, and you lose your mental capacity, your spouse, partner or next of kin will have to make an application for a Deputyship Order on your behalf. The Court of Protection will appoint a Deputy which has a similar role to an Attorney. But this process can take two to three times longer and will cost more than a LPA.

How to Make a Lasting Power of Attorney

At Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors our Private Client Team can help guide you through the process. Our team can advise you which type of LPA meets your requirements. We can then prepare and execute the LPA and register it.

The cost of making a LPA is £300 plus VAT. The cost for making both types is £500 plus VAT. However, for couples who wish to make both documents and are appointing the same attorney(s), the cost is only £800 plus VAT. We will prepare both the document and the application to register your LPAs with the Office of the Public Guardian for which there is a registration cost of £82 per LPA unless you are entitled to remission or exemption of the fee which our team can advise you on.

At Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors, we have an extensively experienced Private Client Team that will tailor the LPA document to meet your individual requirements. Please get in touch today for further details.