Services Provided

Lasting Power of Attorney Property & Financial Affairs

A legal document that allows you (The Donor) to appoint another person or persons (The Attorney) to act on your behalf with regard to your Property & Financial Affairs.

This document enables us to authorise our attorneys to deal with financial matters on our behalf such as:

  • Buying or selling property
  • Opening, closing or operating our bank, building society or any other accounts
  • Giving access to all our financial information so that they can claim and receive benefits, pensions, allowances and rebates on our behalf
  • Dealing with our tax affairs
  • Paying our mortgage, rent and other household expenses
  • Insuring, maintaining and repairing our property

Lasting Power of Attorney Health & Welfare

A legal document that allows you (The Donor) to appoint another person or persons (The Attorney) to act on your behalf with regard to your Health & Welfare.

This document enables our chosen attorneys to make decisions such as:

  • Deciding where our permanent place of residence should be
  • Deciding what care and accommodation is appropriate for us
  • Consenting or refusing any medical treatment or procedure on our behalf
  • Deciding, alone or with others, on the level of care we may require
  • Day to day care, covering such issues as diet, dress and social activities

Registration of LPA at the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG)

An LPA does not come into effect until it has been registered with The Office of the Public Guardian.  The Office of the Public Guardian is a government body set up to protect people who lack mental capacity.  They are responsible for maintaining the registers of Enduring Powers of Attorney and Lasting Power of Attorneys.

Once registered a Property & Financial Affairs LPA can be used immediately, unless it specifies otherwise, but a Health & Welfare LPA can only be used by your attorneys when you have lost mental capacity to make your own decisions.

It is recommended that you register your LPA straight away because it is important that your attorneys are able to act for you quickly should you lose mental capacity perhaps overnight due to an accident/stroke etc.  For example, if you had made an unregistered Health & Welfare LPA and faced a medical emergency, your attorneys would not be authorised to act on your behalf until the LPA was registered with the OPG, which at the very least would take approximately 10 weeks.

The OPG make a charge of £110 to register each separate LPA document. An unregistered LPA does not give the Attorney any legal power.

Registration of an External LPA with the OPG

(This is an LPA that has not originally been drafted by The POA Practice Ltd)

If you have made an LPA in the past with a different Solicitor or Legal Firm and it has never been registered, The Power of Attorney Practice Ltd can check and register the LPA documents for you.

General Power of Attorney

Sometimes referred to as an Ordinary Power of Attorney, the General Power of Attorney is a legal document whereby you (The Donor) appoint another person or persons (The Attorney) to act on your behalf with regard to your Property & Financial Affairs only.

A General Power of Attorney is not an effective provision because it is automatically revoked if you lost mental capacity - just at the time when it is most needed.

More importantly, you will have lost the right to choose who will have the responsibility for looking after your affairs at a time when it is vital that they are dealt with efficiently and sympathetically.

Enduring Power of Attorney for Northern Ireland

An Enduring Power of Attorney used in Northern Ireland, enables you to choose a person or persons (an Attorney) to deal with your Property & Financial Affairs only. This EPA will continue in the event of your becoming mentally incapable of managing your affairs. If your attorney(s) have reason in the future to believe that you have become or are becoming mentally incapable of managing your affairs, your attorney(s) will have to apply to the High Court (Office of Care and Protection) for registration of this power.

Registration of an Enduring Power of Attorney (England & Wales) with the OPG - (Registered when the Donor is losing/lost mental capacity)

Until 1st October 2007, it was possible to appoint someone (an Attorney) to safeguard your interests and to act on your behalf in respect of your financial affairs by an Enduring Power of Attorney.  An EPA remains valid even after the individual granting the EPA (The Donor) becomes mentally incapable. When you become unable to make your own decisions relating to your property & finances your attorneys have the responsibility of registering the EPA with The Office of the Public Guardian. The OPG make a charge of £110 to register the EPA.

Scottish Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney

A Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney allows you to chose another person or persons (attorney) to act on your behalf in all financial and personal welfare matters.

This differs from England, as in the UK you have to make two separate powers (Lasting Power of Attorney's) to cover both financial and personal welfare matters.

The Scottish Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney combines both types within one document.

It allows your attorney/s the power to:

  • Collect pensions and other money due to you
  • Deal with bank and building society accounts
  • Have access to financial information from your bank and other financial organisations
  • Buying and selling investments and other property, including houses
  • Signing documents and entering contracts
  • Bringing or defending legal actions, for example, in the case of an accident
  • Making gifts
  • Deciding on your care arrangements
  • Deciding where you should live
  • Having access to confidential or personal information about your welfare, such as health records
  • Making medical treatment decisions including giving (or denying) consent to medical treatment on your behalf and giving (or denying) permission on your behalf to participate in medical research.
  • Making decisions on your clothes, personal appearance, diet, leisure activities or holidays.

Once the Power has been registered with the Public Guardian's Office in Scotland the attorney has the legal authority to act for you for your financial affairs. Your attorney cannot exercise the power to manage matters related to your personal welfare ie. managing your health and social care needs, unless you become incapable of doing so yourself.

Registration of Scottish Continuing Powers of Attorney at OPG in Scotland

A Scottish Continuing Power of Attorney has to be registered at The Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland before it can be used by the attorneys. There is a £70 registration charge payable to 'The Scottish Court Service'.

Deed of Revocation

(This is used when a Donor wishes to cancel a POA document)

If you are the person who has made the LPA or EPA (The Donor), you can cancel the document at any point as long as you still have mental capacity. You can cancel the Power of Attorney document by preparing a Deed of Revocation. A copy of the Deed of Revocation is sent to all attorneys and the original is sent to The Office of the Public Guardian.

An LPA is cancelled automatically if:

  • The Attorney dies and there are no other Attorneys, (or the Attorneys can only act together) and there is no replacement attorney.
  • The Attorney refuses to act by disclaiming the appointment and there are no other Attorneys (or the Attorneys can only act together) and there is no replacement Attorney.
  • The Attorney is married to the Donor (or is the Donor's civil partner) and the marriage or civil partnership is ended by divorce or dissolution and there are no other Attorneys (of the Attorneys can only act together) and there is no replacement Attorney.  The LPA may, though, state that the appointment is not to cease in this case and so will not be revoked.
  • The Attorney ceases to have mental capacity to exercise the LPA and there are no other Attorneys (or the Attorneys can only act together) and there is no replacement Attorney.
  • In the case of the LPA Property & Financial Affairs only, when the Donor or Attorney become bankrupt.

Partial Deed of Revocation

(This is used for example, if a Donor wishes to remove an attorney from a POA document)

A Partial Deed of Revocation can be drawn up should the person who made the Power of Attorney document (The Donor) wish to remove a particular attorney from their Power of Attorney Document.

A copy of the Partial Deed of Revocation is sent to the attorney the Donor wishes to remove and the original is sent to The Office of the Public Guardian.

The Donor has to have the mental capacity to remove an attorney.

Deputyship Application with The Court of Protection

(This is used when a person has lost mental capacity and can therefore no longer make an LPA document)

It is a common myth that, if you begin to lose capacity to make decisions for yourself, your next of kin can just take over your affairs on your behalf.  This is not so, unless you have already granted Power of Attorney to them.

If not, in England/Wales someone will have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as your 'Deputy'.  This process is a lot more costly, time consuming and stressful than making an LPA.  Also, there are usually ongoing costs as fees must be paid to The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) for supervising the Deputy, and insurance taken out to protect your estate from mismanagement by the Deputy.  These ongoing fees can run into thousands of pounds.

More importantly, once it gets to this point, you will have lost the right to choose who will have the responsibility for looking after your affairs at a time when it is vital that they are dealt with efficiently and sympathetically.  It is much better to have an LPA in place.

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