Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors – Property and Affairs

You are able to look after your own affairs every day and you probably take this for granted. Have you thought what would happen if you couldn’t. We have Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors in Liverpool and St Helens who can prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney for you.

People can become unable to manage their affairs at any stage of life. This can be because of an accident, physical illness or the onset of a mental illness making the everyday tasks of paying bills and making financial decisions difficult and stressful. If you have bank accounts, investments or property in your sole name, then nobody else can access these, even to pay the bills on your behalf. Even married couples can be left unable to deal with each others finances.

Although this is a problem which many of us do not wish to think about and hope will never apply to us, this can be dealt with by the preparation of one document. This is known as a Lasting Power of Attorney.

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint somebody you trust as an attorney to make decisions on your behalf. This document replaced the Enduring Power of Attorney and has introduced a number of important safe guards to protect the person making the document. Anyone over the age of 18 and has mental capacity can make a Lasting Power of Attorney, however, the documents cannot be used until it has been registered at the Office of the Public Guardian.

We can advise and assist with the preparation of the Lasting Power of Attorney together with registration of the same at the Office of the Public Guardian to enable your attorney to act on your behalf.

Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors – Personal Welfare

A personal welfare Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to plan ahead by choosing people to make decisions on your behalf regarding personal healthcare and welfare. This is for a time when medical or welfare decisions need to be made for you but if you were too ill or unable due to mental illness to make the decisions for yourself, have you thought who would be able to make these decisions.

This can involve significant decisions such as giving or refusing consent to the healthcare you receive including medical treatment or where you should live or the day to day decisions such as your daily routine and what you should eat.

What if I do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney?

The alternative to a Lasting Power of Attorney is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed to oversee your affairs on your behalf.

The Court can appoint anyone they believe suitable and this may not necessarily be the person that you would have chosen yourself, in some circumstances the Court may appoint a solicitor from their panel whom you have never even met.

The application can be very lengthy and costly taking many months to receive before anybody can act on your behalf and the Court will charge an administration fee for each year the deputy is appointed.

KPS have Lasting Power of Attorney solicitors in Liverpool or St Helens who would love to hear from you, please contact us on: 0800 195 5218.