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LPA’s

Do you have a person you trust to act on your behalf should you become incapacitated? If not, you could lose control of your bank account(s) and be without a voice for health care decisions.

Who needs an Lasting Power of Attorney and why?

Without a valid Lasting Power of Attorney should a person lose mental capacity due to an accident, or illness such as Alzheimer’s or a Stroke, the Court of Protection via the Office of the Public Guardian will take control to protect them from themselves and the unscrupulous.

The Heather Bateman Story

The video shown on BBC’s One Show gives a brief overview of the financial impact and emotional turmoil that was added to Heather Batemans awful situation with her husband being hit by a car. For the full story click here.

Without an LPA you can face great difficulties including losing control of a bank account in the name of the person who has lost capacity, this includes joint bank accounts!

What is Mental Capacity?

Having mental capacity means a person is able to make their own decisions. If you’re unable to make your own decisions because you suffer from dementia or are unconscious – someone else will need to do so for you.

These could be decisions about your:

finances – paying your mortgage, investing your savings or buying items you need.
health and care – what you should eat, or what type of medical treatment you should have.

Some people may have capacity to make decisions about some things but not others, or their capacity to make decisions may change from day to day or moment to moment.

What is Power of Attorney

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a way of giving someone you trust the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf if you lack mental capacity at some time in the future or no longer wish to make decisions for yourself. The decisions made by your power of attorney have generally the same force in law should you have made them.

There are two types of LPA, the legal documents registered with the Court of Protection, which provide legal permission for your chosen attorney(s) to make decisions on your behalf.

Property & Finance for financial decisions
Health & Welfare for health and care decisions

What can the COP Do?

If there comes a time in the future when you don’t have the mental capacity to make decisions, and you haven’t created a valid lasting power of attorney (LPA) it may be necessary for the Court of Protection to become involved.

The Court of Protection can:

decide whether someone has the mental capacity to make a decision
make an order relating to the personal welfare or property and financial affairs of someone who lacks mental capacity
appoint a deputy to make decisions on behalf of someone who lacks mental capacity.

Costs without LPA’s in place

Applications are a major expense ask our legal consultant to explain the extensive cost of deputyship and the restrictions it places on the decision making capacity.

Application for deputy – initial costs for a deputy

For property & finance deputy: £365
For health & welfare deputy: £365
Initial hearing cost fee: £485
General supervision fee: £320
Assessment fee: £100
Total initial set up costs £1,635.00 (not guaranteed acceptance)
If the named deputy passes you would have those costs again or if as some do they want e.g. A brother and sister who don’t get on and wish an equal say then the costs would double
*** if 2 deputy’s total initial set up costs £3,270.00 (not guaranteed acceptance)

Annual renewal fee per deputy after initial costs: £320 pa
Average annual accountancy costs : £600pa
Average annual legal representation: £600pa
Total annual costs per deputy £1,520.00

e.g. costs for 10 years under the court of protection without inflationary increase 10 x £1,520.00 pa = £15,200
For one person , imagine x 2

*** application costs are correct at the time of printing others are average

The old Enduring Power of Attorney document was replaced by the Lasting Power of Attorney Documents, separating out the nature of decision making into 2 clear categories.

Health and welfare lasting power of attorney

A health and welfare lasting power of attorney can be made to give your attorney the right to make personal welfare and medical treatment decisions on your behalf, if at some time in the future you are unable to make those decisions yourself. A health and welfare lasting power of attorney can only be used when it has been registered and the donor has lost capacity (the ability to handle their own affairs).

Make An Appointment

Property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney

A property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney can be made to give your attorney the right to make financial decisions, such as managing your bank account. Once registered, a property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney can be used while the donor still has capacity, unless the lasting power of attorney specifies otherwise.

Make An Appointment

The LPA Preparation Process

A consultation ensuring the right choices of LPA are made and that the person appointing attorneys is of full mental capacity and is not under pressure from another person to create the LPA.

A questionnaire is completed to collect the content and your instructions for your LPA(s). You may choose to create the documents but not register them until needed, or register them immediately ready for use should the need arise. Registration is a separate cost to creation of the documents and is payable to the Office of the Public Guardian at £82 per LPA.

The preparation of your LPA(s) which can be prepared within 7 – 14 days. An express service is available should the circumstances dictate. (Registration can take 12 weeks in addition the preparation of the LPA’s)

The delivery and guidance with the signing of your LPA(s), there is a strict criteria of signing which must be followed.

Our partners will provide you with one of the most comprehensive systems where only you and your partner (or on your passing) your chosen executors gain access to your documents with an ID certificate issued on completion. This will make sure whilst your alive and your will/wills are a live document, you can make amendments/changes without any further codicil charges for instructing the changes. There are flexible payment options from lifetime (one off payment), annually or monthly to suit all budgets.

Our philosophy

We create robust legal documents for our clients including wills, lasting powers of attorney, asset trusts and more, working at your convenience to make it easy in this busy world!

About Us

Common questions

What does an LPA do?
An LPA allows a person that you know and trust to legally make decisions for you in the event of you losing mental capacity whether by accident or illness.
Can I lose access to our joint account?
As the Heather Bateman case describes, the Court of Protection, which protects the vulnerable, can essentially seize control of bank accounts to protect the vulnerable, this includes any account with their name on including joint accounts.
Is it possible to avoid court costs?
In comparison to the costs involved of becoming a deputy and any accounting/management reporting that need to be produced on a yearly basis, the cost of establishing a lasting power of attorney is a fraction of the cost and should it ever be needed will be worth many times it’s cost in relief.

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