POWER OF ATTORNEY

Have you thought about who would look after your financial affairs or your personal welfare if you were unable to make those decisions yourself?

The law changed on 1st October 2007. Previously you could make an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) to appoint up to four people to look after your financial affairs should be unable to do so yourself. If you have an existing EPA provided it was signed by you and all your attorneys by 30th September 2007 it is valid and can be used as and when necessary.

 From 1st October 2007 Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) were introduced. There are two types of LPA, one for Property and Affairs and one for Personal Welfare. The Property and Affairs form replaces the EPA. The Personal Welfare form is new and deals with accommodation, medical matters and daily living activities. The principles behind LPAs are to provide protection for the person who is mentally incapable of making decisions and to provide clarity for the people involved.

What happens if I don't have a power of attorney?

From 1st October 2007 Deputies can be appointed by the Court of Protection to make decisions for you.

You have no control over whom the court may decide to appoint as deputies.

The procedure for appointing deputies can be expensive, time consuming and disruptive. There is an annual fee for the supervision of deputies, which varies according to the complexity of the situation and the means of the individual but the fees can be up to £800 per year.

Lasting Power of Attorney - Property and Affairs
This form enables you to appoint attorneys to look after your financial affairs. Duties can include operating accounts, paying household expenses, making gifts and buying or selling goods or property.

Lasting Power of Attorney - Personal Welfare
This form enables you to appoint someone to make decisions for you about where you should live, day to day care and medical treatment should you become mentally incapable.

If you want your Attorney to be able to make decisions about life sustaining treatments, this power must be added to the form.

Registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney
Either the person making the LPA (the donor) or their attorney can register the LPA. Each part of the LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used. The fee for this is £120 per part of the LPA. The registration process takes up to 6 weeks and no decisions can be made until the Powers of Attorney are registered.

Take a look at The Office of the Public Guardianwebsite at
www.publicguardian.gov.uk

Age concern have an excellent fact shet which you can download at

http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/is5.asp

The Alzheimers Society fact sheet is also very informative
http://alzheimers.org.uk/factsheet/460