What are they and do I need one?

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more people (known as your Attorneys) to make decisions on your behalf when you cannot and to assist you in carrying out decisions you can make.

When acting under an LPA, your Attorneys must always act in your best interests and are bound by strict legal duties. Because they may need to make important decisions about your health, care, and finances, it is essential to choose people you trust completely.

An LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used and can only be made where you have the mental capacity to understand what you are signing. As registration can take several months, we recommend putting LPAs in place well in advance. 

You can think of an LPA like travel insurance: you hope you never need it, but having it in place provides peace of mind and helps reduce stress for your family later on. It ensures that the people you trust are able to step in and help if needed.

There are two types of LPA:

• Health and Welfare
• Property and Financial Affairs

Health and Welfare LPA

A Health and Welfare LPA allows your Attorneys to make decisions about your medical treatment and day-to-day care if you lose mental capacity. This type of LPA can only be used if you have lost mental capacity.  

Without a registered Health and Welfare LPA, decisions about your health and care are made by the relevant professionals, such as doctors or social workers. While they may consult your family, the final decision rests with them. By contrast, with a Health and Welfare LPA, your Attorneys can make these decisions with support from medical professionals where needed.

Your Attorneys can make decisions about:

• Your medical treatment
• Where you live, and the care and support you receive
• Day‑to‑day matters (e.g. diet, routine, and social activities such as haircuts or exercise)

Property and Financial Affairs LPA

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA allows your Attorneys to manage your financial affairs. Unlike a Health and Welfare LPA, you can choose for this LPA to be used as soon as it has been registered, rather than only if you lose capacity.

If you choose to allow your Attorneys to assist you while you still have capacity, they must act in accordance with your instructions. They can only make decisions in your best interests if you lose capacity.

Financial attorneys can make decisions about:

• Paying bills and managing your bank accounts
• Maintain your property
• Buying or selling property 
• Managing your investments and other financial assets

Common misconceptions

1. “My family can automatically make decisions for me if I can’t”

This is a common misunderstanding that can cause unnecessary stress for loved ones. Without the appropriate LPA, your family cannot automatically step in to help and may be unable to make important decisions about your care, living arrangements, or finances, including paying bills.

In addition, if you lose mental capacity without a registered LPA, your loved ones may need to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as your deputy. This can be an expensive and lengthy process at an already difficult time.

• “Only older people need LPA”

This is not the case. While loss of capacity is more common later in life, it can happen at any age as a result of illness, injury, or an accident.

For example, if you were in a coma following a serious accident, an LPA would allow your chosen Attorneys to step in immediately and manage your affairs. If you later regain capacity, you would simply resume making your own decisions.

We are also seeing an increase in requests from lenders for borrowers to have a Property and Financial Affairs LPA in place, to ensure someone can manage financial matters if capacity is lost.

• “Making an LPA means giving up control of my affairs.”

This is a common concern, but having an LPA in place does not take away your ability to make your own decisions. The law presumes that every adult has capacity unless there is evidence to the contrary. As long as you have capacity, you remain in control and your Attorneys cannot override your decisions.

If you lose capacity to make a particular decision, your Attorneys can then step in. Capacity is decision-specific, meaning you may be able to make some decisions but not others.

Speak to our Wealth Management team

Putting an LPA in place is one of the most practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. It ensures that, if the unexpected happens, the right people can make decisions on your behalf without delay or uncertainty.

Depending on your individual circumstances and preferences, there are a number of ways to structure your LPAs. Get in touch with our Wealth Management team to discuss the best options for you. We can take the stress and complexity out of the process, guiding you from start to finish to ensure your LPAs are correctly set up, reflect your wishes, and work as intended.