Cedar Legacies are Dedicated to Protecting your Wishes Should the Worst Happen. Should you Develop a Condition or Have a Sudden Accident that Renders you Incapable of Making your Own Decisions, a Lasting Power of Attorney will Grant your Loved Ones, Legal Power to Make Financial, Property & Health Decisions on your Behalf.
Why do I need a Lasting Power of Attorney?
If you lose mental capacity, unless you’ve already filled in the Power of Attorney forms, your loved ones will need to apply through court to become ‘deputy’, a long and expensive process.
A lasting power of attorney (LPA) gives another individual the legal authority to look after specific aspects of your financial affairs or health and welfare should you lose the capacity to do so. It’s not just for the elderly; younger people may become incapacitated through accident or illness.
If you do not have an LPA in place and later become mentally incapacitated, relatives may face long delays and expense in applying to the court of protection to get access and take control of your assets and finances.
WHAT TYPES OF LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEYS ARE THERE?
There are 2 Types of LPA
PROPERTY AND FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
Use this LPA to give an attorney the power to make decisions about things like:
HEALTH AND WELFARE
Use this LPA to give an attorney the power to make decisions about things like:
The consequence of not preparing a LPA could mean that a mentally incapable person’s loved ones would have to make an application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a “Deputy” to be able to access their finances. This can be a long as well as a costly process. Those with no close relatives would have an Independent Mental Capacity Adviser appointed by the court.
LPAs will only become valid once they are registered with the Court of Protection. Once the LPA has been registered with the Court, your Attorney(s) will be able to act on your behalf in accordance with the terms of the LPA.
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Why is a Lasting Power of Attorney Important for Business Owners?
For business owners specifically, unexpected incapacity (even if only temporary) can impact significantly on the business’ finances. This change in circumstance can effect the following; third parties may not be paid, stock may not be purchased and no one would be authorised to control the business bank accounts. Many people think Business owners can rely on family or employees to deal with the running of the business but in most cases these parties do not have the authority to do this.
If you were to become incapacitated then, without an LPA, an application would need to be made to the Court of Protection in order for someone to be appointed as your deputy. The person appointed may not have been the person you would have chosen and this process also takes some time resulting in a financial burden substantially higher than the cost of putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place. Your LPA should be regarded as another insurance policy vital to the ongoing success of your business.
