Introduction
LPA is an instrument in the realm of law with its purpose to make decisions for a particular person who cannot make decisions for herself. There are also several reasons why you may need one, these include; Health complications, an accident, or old age. This article helps you understand how to make an LPA, register it, and even cancel one; the legal rules that make your decisions and choices safeguarded.
What Is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
An LPA is a legal document in the United Kingdom that appoints one or more people as attorneys to assist in making decisions for the individual or make decisions on his or her behalf in case of dementia. Mental competence means the ability to be able to reason on your own and make choices on your own accord. On its own, the LPA enables you to make arrangements regarding who can act on your behalf in managing your affairs-of-course in case you are incapable of doing so.
There are two types of LPAs:There are two types of LPAs:
Health and Welfare LPA: This includes decisions as to health care and these personal matters. It may involve a decision to obtain treatment, go to a residential care home, or withdraw or refuse treatment.
Property and Financial Affairs LPA: This pertains to issues to do with your financial and material belongings for example who handles your accounts, payment of bills, acquisition of benefits, or selling of a house.
You can decide to make one or both types and the same person can represent you as your attorney for each or you have different attorneys for each.
The Lasting Power of Attorney
1. One of the things you need to do when preparing for the end of life is to identify whom you want to appoint as your attorney(s).
Selecting the right lawyer(s) is important more so because he or she is the one who will be making decisions on behalf of the other. Ideally you should rely on your attorney, this is so because he or she will be handling much of your personal and sensitive information. Often the person selects a relative or a friend but you can also select a legally authorised person like a solicitor as your attorney.
You can and normally should appoint more than one attorney where you can also choose whether they must act together (jointly) or one of them can act on their own (jointly and severally). For instance, you may wish your attorneys make decisions together regarding the sale of your property while allowing each of them to have the authority to make decisions alone in regards to routine matters such as payment of bills.
2. Decide on Replacement Attorneys
You should also give some thought to appointing replacement attorneys. In case your initial attorney cannot proceed any further, you will be allowed to get another attorney. This means that if the original attorney is incapacitated through sickness or even death your affairs will still be managed as per your wishes.
3. LPA is legal form that have to be filled out in a specific manner In their legal form, there may be certain sections or questions to be answered, which are designed to be filled out in a specific manner.
After you have appointed your attorney(s), then you have to fill the LPA forms which are as follows. These can be downloaded from the government website or it can be requested to be sent by post in paper Formats. The forms are fairly descriptive and this means they should be filled out with a lot of scrutiny. You will need to provide the following information:You will need to provide the following information:
Your details (the donor)
Details of your attorney(s)
How your attorney(s) should conduct himself or herself (jointly or jointly and severally)
Any directions or direction that you wish your attorney(s) to adhere to
Whether or not there are any change of Pleader’s and if so, the details of all the subsequent attorneys for the party.
It also allows you to enter the preferences (things that your attorney should take into account while making decisions), and the instructions (the rules that your attorney has to stick to).
4. Make Sure That The Lpa Is Signed and Witnessed
Once you have filled the LPA forms then they require execution which means you and your attorney(s) signing them. You will also require a witness in order to attest the signature that you will provide. Also, there is a requirement known as the ‘certificate provider’ who must also sign the LPA to attest that the LPA maker understands what he or she is doing and nobody is forcing them to create the LPA. This can be a friend, acquaintance or someone you have encountered for over a period of two years or even more or a professional such as a solicitor or a doctor among others.
Making a Lasting Power of Attorney
These LPA forms once filled and signed this power are not effective until they have been officially lodged with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). In this case, you can register the LPA on your own or your attorney on your behalf may register the LPA. The registration process normally takes between eight and ten weeks to be completed.
1. Submit the LPA Forms
The formalities of creating the LPA are done by filling and submitting the forms to the OPG. You can do this online or, if the work is posted, then by post. LPAs are not free although there is a registration fee of £82 per LPA for each of the 3 LPAs as of 2024 and fee exemptions/reduction may apply based on one’s income or receipt of certain benefits.
2. Once you are done with the Registration section then only proceed.
After the forms have been submitted the OPG will review the forms and if they require additional information they will get in touch. They will inform you and any other legal attorney that you employ that the LPA has been registered. Until the LPA is registered your attorney cannot make decisions for you so it is imperative that you register the LPA before losing mental capacity if at all possible.
3. Using the LPA
When the LPA is registered your attorney can then begin to make decisions regarding your affairs on your behalf. With the Property and Financial Affairs LPA, your attorney can make decisions for you even if you still have the capacity to make these decisions yourself if you have authorised this beforehand. However, the Health and Welfare LPA can only be done once the person has lost his mental capacity.
Tanning a Lasting Power of Attorney
An LPA can be ended by several means as we are going to find here. This is a very important aspect for anyone who wants to know how and when it is possible so that their issues can be well handled.
1. There Is Always a Way to Cancel an LPA
This means that as long as you still have the mental ability to do so, you have the power to revoke an LPA anytime that you want. To do this you will be required to complete a ‘Deed of Revocation’ form and post it to the OPG. After the LPA is repealed, your attorney will not be able to make any decisions for you anymore.
2. The attorney also has the prerogative of stepping down in cases that he or she wishes not to handle.
Your attorney can also take a decision to withdraw from the case anytime he or she wants to or should wish to. If, however, this happens, then you should notify the OPG. If there is a change of carriage and you have hired another attorney to represent you then such an attorney will replace the previous one. If there is no replacement attorney, you will have to execute a new LPA if you would wish to have someone making decisions on your behalf.
3. The LPA can come to an end in two ways namely;
There are certain circumstances where an LPA will end automatically:There are certain circumstances where an LPA will end automatically:
Death of the donor: The LPA is finite in that it ceases once you have died. After you die, your legal business will be handled by the person who has been entrusted with the responsibility of handling your properties and businesses by the will.
Bankruptcy: In case your attorney is bankrupt, then he or she cannot represent you as your financial attorney again. Likewise, if you, the donor, becomes bankrupt, then the Property and Financial Affairs LPA will be revoked while the Health and Welfare LPA will not.
Loss of capacity of the attorney: If your attorney is not capable of practising law anymore, or for some other reason he or she has passed on, the LPA will be terminated unless a new attorney has been named.
Conclusion
Setting up, registering or terminating Lasting Power of Attorney is a complex procedure; However, assignation of a lasting Power of attorney is an important process that one should undertake to ensure that his or her property, financial affairs as well as health care in case of developing a Power of Attorney is a document that enables an individual to appoint a person of their choice to act on their behalf in case they are unable to make decisions on health, property or finance Being able to select the right nominees, and register the LPA with the OPG, or knowing how to revoke/de-register the agreement at the right time will help protect everyone’s interests and offer you all the reassurance you need.