A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a crucial legal document that all UK adults should have.
LPAs help individuals of all ages and backgrounds safeguard their futures by appointing someone (or several people) they trust to make certain decisions for them if they are no longer able to do so themselves.
A health and welfare LPA enables an attorney to make decisions involving your health and welfare, such as about your medical care, moving into a care home and your daily routine.
A property and financial affairs LPA gives an attorney (or attorneys) the power to make decisions relating to these areas of your life. Responsibilities might include paying bills, selling your home, collecting a pension, or managing a bank or building society account.
When Do LPAs Come Into Effect?
The timing of when an LPA becomes effective depends on your own preference, and whether it is a health and welfare LPA or an LPA for property and financial affairs.
For health and welfare LPAs, an attorney can only make decisions when the donor does not have the mental capacity to make them.
Mental capacity can be lost for different reasons (for example, if someone is suffering from dementia, has a serious brain injury or a stroke) and can come and go.
When acting as an attorney, you must check whether the donor has mental capacity to make a decision at the time it needs to be made.
Mental capacity is considered as someone being able to understand the relevant information, retain it for as long as they need to make the decision, weigh up the different options, appreciate the consequences and communicate their wishes, for example, by blinking or squeezing a hand.
If they lack the mental capacity, an attorney can make the decision on their behalf.
For property and financial affairs LPAs, the donor can choose whether it’s effective immediately after being registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) or held in reserve and only used if they lose mental capacity.
People with physical health conditions that make it difficult to visit a bank may choose for their property and financial affairs LPA to take effect upon registration. This enables the person they have nominated as their attorney to help with their finances, even though they still have mental capacity.
How To Use an LPA
Various steps have been taken over the past few years to modernise the LPA process, which has been accused of being outdated, time-consuming and confusing.
Complaints have also been made that the paper-based system frequently leads to lost documents and unnecessary in-person branch visits.
As a result of this, the OPG launched its ‘Use an LPA’ service in 2020, which enables users to see the details of an LPA without the attorney needing to provide the paper version.
Use an LPA Service
If you’re an attorney or the donor on an LPA, you can use the government’s ‘Use an LPA’ service to:
- View a one-page summary of an LPA.
- Let companies or organisations view a summary of an LPA.
- Keep track of who has been given access to an LPA.
- See how people named on an LPA are using the service.
The Use an LPA service can only be used for LPAs that were registered on or after 1 January 2016.
To use the service, donors or attorneys must:
- Create an account.
- Add an LPA to your account (you will need to provide the LPA reference number and your activation key).
You can then create and share individual access codes for each company or organisation that needs to see it. An access code is valid for 30 days from the day you create it. Codes have 13 characters and start with V.
More information is available on Gov.uk by clicking here.
View an LPA Service
Companies and organisations that need to check the information contained within LPAs can use the secure ‘View an LPA’ service to check an LPA is valid and who the attorneys are.
To see an LPA, you will need to provide the relevant organisation with the 13-character LPA access code, which is supplied by the attorney or donor.
You need to enter the donor’s surname and the code. If the LPA is found, you will see the full name of the donor and the type of LPA.
You can then check the details and that the type of LPA is appropriate for the decision that needs to be made.
Solicitors for LPA Near Me
January is a great time to write your Will or set up your Lasting Power of Attorney.
At Bookers & Bolton, our experienced Private Client solicitors help a wide range of clients with drafting or updating their Wills and completing and registering LPA forms.
Our professional team offer high-quality advice and guidance tailored to meet your needs regarding all areas of estate planning, management and administration.
We can meet with you face to face in our Alton offices or online if you want to work remotely. This means you don’t have to take a day off work to sort out your affairs.
If you don’t have anyone to be your attorney or executor, then we can also help you with that.
Get in Touch
If you would like further information or advice regarding our Lasting Power of Attorney services, please get in touch with us on 01420 558335, email us at enquiries@bookersandbolton.co.uk or make an online enquiry here.
