Could sorting your Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) be more important than writing a Will? Judith Hurle, a Will Executive at our West Wickham office, discusses the merits of obtaining Lasting Powers of Attorney sooner rather than later.
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you appoint one or more people (known as ‘attorneys’) to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf.
This gives you more control over what happens to you if you are taken ill or are in an accident and cannot make your own decisions (you ‘lack mental capacity’). This is because if you lose mental capacity, without an LPA in place, your loved ones will need to apply through the court to become a ‘deputy’, which can be a long and expensive process.
Lasting Powers of Attorney are arguably more important than writing a Will due to the fact that these documents will concern your care and lifestyle whilst you are still alive. They allow your attorneys – whether they be family members or friends – to make decisions for you in the same way that you would have perhaps done so had you not lost capacity.
When can an LPA be used?
When making a Property & Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney, clients should be aware that even though they have appointed someone to look after their financial matters they do not have to hand over responsibility to their attorney immediately. Clients (known as “the Donor” in the legal document) are always in control of their own financial decisions unless they request their attorney to help them or if they lose mental capacity. A Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney is slightly different – this document can only be used if you have lost mental capacity. With this document your attorney will be able to make decisions about your health care and how you should be looked after and even make decisions about any life-sustaining treatment decisions.
Having said that, an attorney can, in most circumstances, speak with the Donor’s GP or deal with Care Homes when a Health & Welfare LPA is in place and the Donor still has the mental capacity to make their own decisions. The Donor may just need to give their consent to a medical practitioner speaking to a third party.
These documents should not be left until it’s too late as then a Court of Protection application will need to be made which is more time consuming and involves a lot more costs and is also not guaranteed.
More LPAs are being registered
With people living longer the Office of the Public Guardian are receiving more and more of these applications. The data shows that in 2022, 848,896 LPAs were registered, which is up nearly 20% on 2021 figures.. This is potentially due to a growing awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The office of National Statistics reported that in 2023, Deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer disease are the leading cause of death, accounting for 11.6% of all deaths registered in England and Wales*.
So… is having Lasting Powers of Attorney in place more important than writing your will?
Both documents are equally important, however, by making Lasting Powers of Attorney you are more in control of who can act on your behalf, how they can act, and when they can act. It is also peace of mind that everything is in place for your family, so they do not need to embark on lengthy, and costly, Court of Protection proceedings.
I recommend that in general people over the age of 60 should consider putting Lasting Powers of Attorneys in place and those that are younger, but have a family history of dementia, should also put these documents in place so that they (and their families) have peace of mind that should the time come they will be taken care of by people that they trust wholeheartedly.
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If you would like to learn more about putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, please contact our Wills & Probate team on 020 8771 5254, who will answer any of your questions.
About the Author
Judith Hurle is part of our Wills & Probate team in our West Wickham office, and specialises in writing Wills and setting up Lasting Powers of Attorney. Judith Hurle is a registered Dementia Friend and is experienced in dealing with elderly client issues and later life care.