The Value Of LPAs: Ensuring Your Wishes are Honoured
In the context of Estate Planning, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) are powerful tools. While it is crucial to carefully plan your Will, LPAs offer an additional layer of protection and control, ensuring that your wishes are upheld, even if you become unable to make decisions due to illness or incapacity.
In this article, we explore the value of LPAs, their types, and why they are an essential component of your Estate Planning.
Understanding Lasting Powers of Attorney
LPAs grant trusted individuals, known as Attorneys, the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf should you lose mental capacity. This loss of capacity could arise due to various reasons, such as illness, injury, or old age. By appointing Attorneys, you uphold the value of LPAs, retaining control over who manages your affairs and ensuring that your interests are protected when you cannot express your preferences.
Types of LPAs
There are two primary types of LPAs, each serving distinct purposes:
- Property and Financial Affairs LPA: This LPA grants your chosen Attorneys the authority to manage your finances, including paying bills, managing investments, and selling property if necessary. It empowers your Attorneys to make decisions regarding your assets and finances on your behalf.
- Health and Welfare LPA: This LPA gives your Attorneys the power to make decisions related to your health and welfare, such as consenting to or refusing medical treatment, choosing where you live, and deciding on your day-to-day care. It ensures that your healthcare preferences are honoured if you are unable to communicate them yourself.
The Importance of LPAs
- Maintaining Control: LPAs enable you to retain control over your affairs even if you are incapacitated. By appointing trusted individuals as Attorneys, you ensure that your wishes are respected and that your best interests are prioritised.
- Avoiding Legal Complications: Without LPAs in place, your loved ones may face significant challenges in managing your affairs if you become incapacitated. They may need to apply to the court for deputyship, a lengthy and costly process that can be avoided by having LPAs in place.
- Ensuring Timely Decision-Making: In situations where quick decisions are required, such as medical emergencies, having a Health and Welfare LPA can be crucial. It empowers your Attorneys to make timely decisions based on your known preferences, providing peace of mind to both you and your loved ones.
- Protecting Vulnerable Individuals: LPAs are particularly important for vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly or those with degenerative conditions like dementia. By appointing Attorneys to act in their best interests, LPAs offer protection against exploitation and ensure that their needs are properly addressed.
The Process of Creating LPAs
Creating LPAs involves several steps, including:
- Choosing Attorneys: Select individuals whom you Trust implicitly to act in your best interests. Consider their reliability, availability, and ability to make decisions on your behalf.
- Completing the Forms: LPAs require specific forms to be completed, detailing your chosen Attorneys and the powers you wish to grant them. These forms must be signed in the presence of witnesses and certified by a registered professional.
- Registering the LPAs: Once completed, LPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before they can be used. Registration ensures the LPAs’ validity and safeguards against abuse or misuse.
The Value of LPAs: Ensuring Your Wishes are Honoured
In the context of Estate Planning, LPAs are indispensable instruments for protecting your interests and ensuring that your wishes are honoured, even in the face of incapacity. By appointing trusted Attorneys and outlining your wishes with LPAs, you can preserve the value of LPAs by retaining control over your affairs, offering invaluable peace of mind to both yourself and your loved ones.
Please don’t wait until it’s too late; incorporate LPAs into your Estate Planning strategy today. It’s never too early to plan, but it can be too late. Take control of your future with LPAs.
Contact Us
At ELM Legal Services, we understand the importance of effective Estate Planning and are here to assist you every step of the way.
Call us now on 0117 952 0698 or simply click on Contact Us. Alternatively, if you would like to book a free initial meeting, you can visit our Online Wills service page.
