Managing your affairs during your lifetime can become more difficult and it is wise to nominate someone whom you trust to look after your affairs, should you become mentally or physically unable to manage your affairs yourself or if you are simply travelling abroad and need someone to manage your finances in your absence.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (“LPA”) (which has replaced the Enduring Power of Attorney or “EPA”) enables you to choose who you would like to manage your property, financial and general affairs should you become unable to manage them yourself.

You can also extend the powers under a LPA to those relating to you personal welfare, if you so wish. This document is referred to as the Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney. This document gives your Attorneys the power to decide on issues such as where you will live, your care and medical treatment; they may also give or refuse consent to the carrying out or continuation of medical treatment, according to your wishes, if you become incapable of making those decisions for yourself.

Within either document you can place restrictions on precisely what your Attorney can or cannot deal with, such as restricting medical decisions or not allowing any gifts to be made from your assets.

If you have a LPA in place and you become mentally incapacitated your Attorneys can continue to utilise the LPA to deal with your affairs providing it has been registered.

If you do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place and you then become mentally incapable of managing your affairs, then this option will no longer be available. To have a valid Lasting Power of Attorney, the person making the document must understand the nature and effect of the document. If that person lacks the mental capability so to understand, then a Court of Protection Deputy Order would be the only option for a loved one to manage your affairs – but a Deputy Order is a very expensive and time-consuming process compared to a Lasting Power of Attorney.

The Powers of Attorney that precede the Lasting Powers of Attorney were called Enduring Powers of Attorney. Any validly executed Enduring Powers of Attorney prior to 1st October 2007 can continue to be used. However, if the Donor of the Power becomes or is becoming mentally incapable of managing their own affairs, it is the legal duty of the Attorneys to register the document with the Office of Public Guardian. Until it has been registered, the Attorney will have little or no powers under the document.

If you are travelling abroad for a significant amount of time and you need someone to manage your affairs or a particular matter then you can appoint someone under a General Power of Attorney, which is a limited form of Power of Attorney.

Our Private Client Department Solicitors can assist you through the complexities of the Lasting Power of Attorney, ensuring that the LPA is tailored to your wishes and requirements. We can also assist you in the registration of the Lasting Powers of Attorney and Enduring Powers of Attorney.

For more information about this please contact Alexandra Milton on akm@wdavies.com or Fiona Gould on feg@wdavies.com