The more clients I see, the more convinced I am that we should all have Lasting Powers of Attorney in place. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is really a simple document that allows you to appoint someone you trust to look after your affairs when you are unable to do so because of mental incapacity.
None of us know what is around the corner. Young or old, any of us could have an accident, get a debilitating illness or whatever, that causes us to be unable to look after our own affairs.
If we don't have an LPA in place, this will cause a lot of work and stress for your loved ones as they will have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as deputy. I won't go into detail in this article to explain what is involved in applying to the Court of Protection, but suffice to say, it involves filling out lengthy forms, giving lots of information, obtaining medical evidence and notifying various people - all of which takes time, costs a lot of money if you get an expert to help you (the court fee alone is £365), and is a stressful process.
All of this could have been avoided if you had made an LPA!
Making an LPA is essentially a form filling exercise.
All you need to start is the names and addresses of your attorneys and their date of birth.
As donor you complete your details first, then the attorneys.
You will need to sign the form as donor, and your signature must be witnessed.
You will also need what is called a Certificate Provider, who is either a professional person or someone who has known you for 2 years or more who can confirm that you are signing this LPA under your own free will and not being pressurised to do so.
Your attorneys will also need to sign (in the presence of a witness)
The mistakes that arise tend to me made with the order in which the various persons involved sign. But if you get this right it should be a straightforward process.
The last step is to apply to register the LPA, and then the paperwork is submitted to the OPG (Office of the Public Guardian) with payment of the court fee (currently £85).
Of course this may all seem rather daunting to you, and if you need help with completing your LPA (or LPA's) then I would of course be happy to help - the costs in helping you with the application and taking the weight off your shoulders is probably a lot less than you feared! So please do give me a call and we can talk about it. Please call on 07800 889527 or email me at amanda.lipman@will-probate.co.uk
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