A will deals with what happens after you die. A lasting power of attorney deals with something people find harder to think about — what happens if you are still here but no longer able to make decisions for yourself, after a stroke, an accident, or the onset of dementia.
Without one, your family cannot simply step in. Banks will freeze accounts. Nobody can sell your house or manage your care.
A property and financial affairs LPA covers your money: bank accounts, bills, investments, and selling or buying property. If you choose, your attorneys can use it while you still have capacity — useful if illness makes day-to-day admin difficult.
A health and welfare LPA covers where you live, your day-to-day care, and medical treatment. It can only be used once you have lost the capacity to make the decision yourself. You choose separately whether your attorneys may consent to or refuse life-sustaining treatment.
Most people make both.
An LPA is made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and can only be created while you still have capacity — which is precisely why leaving it until there is a problem does not work. An independent certificate provider confirms you understand what you are signing and are not under pressure.
The document must then be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used at all. Registration takes time, so this is not something to start in a crisis.
You decide who acts, whether they act together or independently, and who replaces them if one cannot continue. Your attorneys must act in your best interests and follow the principles of the Act.
EPAs made before 1 October 2007 remain valid. No new ones can be created, and an EPA covers finances only. It must be registered once you begin to lose capacity.
If capacity is lost without an LPA in place, someone must apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed deputy. That is slower and considerably more expensive, the deputy is supervised and must report annually, and the court may not appoint the person you would have chosen. Health and welfare deputyships are rarely granted at all.
An LPA made now avoids all of it.
We advise on who to appoint and how they should act together, draft both documents, act as certificate provider where appropriate, and handle registration with the OPG from start to finish.
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