Lasting Powers of Attorney

We specialise in Lasting Powers of Attorney applications

We specialise in Lasting Powers of Attorney applications

Lasting Power of Attorneys (LPAs) are legal documents. It is for people who have mental capacity to appoint at least one person to assist with their affairs if they become unable to deal with matters for themselves which can be for a variety of reasons, the main one is in the event that they lose mental capacity.
There are three categories of people involved in a Lasting Power of Attorney:

• The ‘donor’ is the person giving the power of attorney.

• The ‘certificate provider’ – This is a person either known to the donor for 2 years or a professional able to come to some judgement as to whether the donor is mentally capable of making the decision to give the power of attorney and to realise the full extent of what the donor is doing. A solicitor can assess mental capacity and sign Part B of the form, which sometimes works out cheaper than a doctor doing the same. However sometimes a doctor may be needed to assess capacity where there is some doubt.

• The ‘attorney’ is the person to whom the power of attorney is given.

There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorneys:

 

1. Health and Welfare – This concerns looking after the health and welfare of a person who is unable to make relevant decisions. This can include whether they move to a care home through to who should make the decision in relation to life sustaining treatment. This ensures that their doctor listens to the Attorney when a person loses mental capacity.

2. Property and Financial – This concerns money, shares, investments and property. An example of its necessity is the fact that property owned by the person who has lost mental capacity cannot be sold, even if it needs to be, unless a legal document such as a Lasting Power of Attorney is in place.

LPAs are cheaper and quicker and not as rigorously supervised as a Court of Protection (COP) appointment of a deputy

Frequently Asked Questions

Who should I choose to be my Attorney?

You should only choose a person or people who you completely trust and who knows you well enough to make decisions for you which you would have made if you were able to. Please remember that they will have access to your bank accounts when you are at your most vulnerable and the ability to sell your house if you are a home owner as well as the ability to make decisions about your health and any treatment.

Can I state what I would want them to consider for certain decisions?

You can indeed state what you would like your Attorneys to do or consider in certain circumstances in the section regarding ‘preferences’ and ‘instructions’ but the wording you use needs to be clear and precise and not in conflict with any other decisions made throughout the Lasting Power of Attorney. If you do not word something clearly or precisely or it is in conflict with what you have already decided then your Lasting Power of Attorney can be rejected and as such, you will need to start again and pay an additional fee.
There are many decisions to make and many of our clients who had started looking into LPA’s themselves have made comments about how they had not thought of certain points we raised beforehand and as such were glad they asked for us to assist.

Why use M2M Community Solicitors LLP to draft my Lasting Power of Attorney?

We believe that there are many reasons why you should use M2M to draft your LPA. We believe that we offer a competitive rate in respect of our charges, we are thorough so will consider all types of decisions based on your circumstances and suggest any preferences and instructions, which we believe may be applicable to you for your consideration.
We will also act as your certificate provider. This means that we will carry out the relevant test to ensure that you have the relevant capacity in order to make a LPA. This will save you in most cases, the cost of approaching a doctor to ask that they sign the relevant certificate provider part of the form. It is only in very rare cases that we will suggest a doctor be consulted as we are experienced in making assessments. It is so rare that for Lasting Power of Attorneys we have never referred anyone to the doctor for an assessment as we have been able to say that the person clearly lacks the capacity and in such cases the alternative is a Court of Protection application, which doctors have signed.
Having a person experienced with drafting LPA’s is essential.

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