Elliot Chambers discusses the reasons for choosing a solicitor to be your Attorney if you were to lose capacity
The prospect of losing the ability to make important decisions is scary, but so important. To ensure that your finances and wellbeing are protected if you were to ever lose capacity, you must have a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place. It will allow individuals to deal with your assets, as well as handling your health and welfare matters.
What is an LPA?
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows a person to appoint trusted individuals (known as Attorneys) to make decisions about their health and welfare and/or their property and finances.
You can choose anyone to be your Attorney, as long as they are over 18 years of age. Your Attorneys should be people that you trust implicitly. Your Attorneys will be able to make decisions on your behalf if you were to lose capacity and therefore have a lot of responsibility. With the Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney, this can range from deciding which care home you are in, to refusing or consenting to life-sustaining treatment.
With the Property and Finance Lasting Power of Attorney, this can relate to making investments on your behalf, paying your bills or buying and selling property.
Why not simply use a family member or friend?
For many individuals, appointing family members and close friends to act as their Attorneys is a suitable option. However, for some individuals this is not the case. For those who do not have any family members or who do not feel as though their family members would be an appropriate appointment, it is possible to appoint Goughs Solicitors to act as your Attorney under the Property and Finance Lasting Power of Attorney. There are several benefits to appointing a professional as your Attorney:
- Knowledge and experience: As lawyers, we are able to draw upon our extensive legal knowledge and experience in order to deal with any complex decisions that may arise in relation to your property or finances if you were to lose capacity.
- Removing the burden from family and friends: When an individual loses capacity, it can be a very emotional time for their loved ones. Acting as an Attorney can be time consuming and administratively burdensome, which can be exceptionally stressful during such an emotional time. Appointing Goughs as your Attorney will allow us to deal with the paperwork and organisational tasks involved with being an Attorney, allowing your loved ones to focus on more important matters.
- Reliability and impartiality: As a professional Attorney, we are aware of our legal duties in relation to our appointment. This means that we are clear on the role at hand and are best placed to understand the consequences of breaching any of the responsibilities of being an Attorney.
In addition, we are independent from your loved ones. Family relationships can be complicated and the added stress of a loved one losing capacity can add further complications. If you are concerned that there is a risk of issues arising between your attorneys, appointing a professional Attorney is sensible. Alternatively, it is possible to appoint Goughs to act as your Attorney alongside your loved ones to ensure accountability.
You can contact Elliot Chambers at email hidden; JavaScript is required and 01225 715099
