Lasting Powers of Attorney

A Lasting Power of Attorney enables you to appoint people of your choice to manage your affairs if you are no longer able to.

Excellent: 4.8/5

 5/5

Reliable, jargon free expert legal advice

With a combined experience of over 80 years in the estate & life planning industry, The Planning Bee’s experts have spent their careers discovering the best solutions for their clients

Forward Thinking

The Planning Bee is an innovative company bringing together some of the best and most experienced legal professionals in the estate planning industry. We specialise in asset protection and bespoke estate planning.

Experienced

Our Paralegals have decades of experience between them and offer a consultation to tailor a holistic solution for your estate planning needs – the ultimate goal being peace of mind.

Qualified & Caring

Our Paralegals have helped thousands of families over the years, and are members of either the Institute of Paralegals, The National Association of Licensed Paralegals or the Society of Will Writers.

If you were no longer able to manage your affairs, who would you want to look after your wishes?

If you find yourself no longer able to look after your affairs, due to mental or physical incapacity, someone from the local authority will be appointed.

Unless you appoint a trusted individual through lasting powers of attorney (LPAs)

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a powerful legal document that lets you (the ‘donor’) 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 have an accident or an illness and cannot make your own decisions (you ‘lack mental capacity’).

We frequently hear from our clients that they will make LPAs only when they are needed. However, you must have the mental capacity (the ability to make your own decisions) when you make your LPAs. The danger is that if you leave it too late, then it will no longer be possible to put them in place. We all hope that LPAs are not needed during our lifetime, however these documents allow you to be assured that your assets or care needs will be taken care of by people you trust should an accident or illness incapacitate you.

Rather than a stranger being put in charge of your affairs, creating LPAs allow you to have the peace of mind knowing that someone you trust can step in if they ever need to. It is most common for a spouse or child to be appointed as the trusted individual.

There are 2 types of Lasting Power of Attorney:

Lasting Power of Attorney for Property & Financial Affairs – This covers decisions about your financial affairs. It comes into effect if you lose mental capacity, or if you no longer want to/are able to make decisions for yourself. This covers decisions such as paying bills, managing investments, collecting benefits, as well as selling property.

Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare – This allows the Attorney(s) to make decisions around healthcare, medications and prescriptions, housing as well as consent or refusal to life sustaining treatment. Most importantly without LPAs the Local Authority may decide if you go into care, which could be against the wishes of the family.

You may never need to use them, but it’s essential to put them in place just in case.

Our Paralegals specialise in mental health issue and can advise you of the best way to set up your Lasting Powers of Attorney.