One of the many things that we don’t want to think about is what happens to you if you become incapable of making your own decisions about things. The official title to this situation is when you lose mental capacity. A ‘lasting power of attorney’ or LPA for short, lets you appoint people whom you trust to be your ‘attorneys’ and they will need officially be able to help you if or when you become or lack mental capacity. This is a difficult subject to discuss at the best of times and this piece is only meant to give you some information. To follow the process and get expert help from a Power of Attorney Cheltenham company contact https://beesandco.co.uk/our-services/power-of-attorney-cheltenham/ who can help you much more.

Before you can embark on choosing someone or some people you have to be over the age of 18 and still able to make you own decisions.  There are 2 forms that the LPA takes. You can either have one that looks after your health and welfare and the second looks at property and your money or financial affairs. You can have one type or the other or both. One other thing there is a process in England and Wales but it is different for Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Let’s look at each one individually.

  • Health and Welfare. This allows the attorney to make decisions regarding your daily care including washing, what you eat and what you wear. They will also look at your medical care and the details should you need to move into a care home. Most importantly they will discuss any life sustaining treatment. You must remember that the LPA only comes into force if and only if you are unable to make your own decisions.
  • Property and Financial affairs. This allows those chosen by the individual making their power of attorney to make decisions regarding their property and finances. Many people think that because they are married they can automatically act on behalf of their spouse and this is not true. You need to ensure that you have this kind of Power of Attorney in place in order to be able to make payments and withdraw money on the behalf of your partner.

When looking to complete Power of Attorneys you need to ensure that you seek professional advice to complete the documentation correctly and have this filed in the right manner. Although not being able to make decisions for ourselves is not something any of us wants to think about it is necessary to ensure that our wishes regarding our finances and personal health are adhered to.