Lasting Powers of Attorney – Changes You Need to Know.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) document allows you to grant a trusted person or persons the ability to make decisions on your behalf.
These decisions are split into two categories:
- Those over your property and financial affairs
- Those encompassing your health and well-being.
A property and financial affairs LPA covers your banking, benefits, paying your bills, and selling your home. A health and welfare LPA covers the making of decisions about your medical care, treatment, and daily care routine.
You can make one, or both, LPAs depending on your circumstances.
A financial LPA can be drawn up and used as soon as it is registered, while a health and welfare LPA can only be used when you’re unable to make your own decisions.
You, the donor, will be able to nominate up to four people to be your attorneys, who will be able to help you with your financial affairs and well-being decisions.
Whoever is appointed as an attorney must act in the person’s best interest, must not take advantage of the situation, and must keep all money separate from their own.
Why everyone should have a Lasting Power of Attorney.
By creating these documents, you are not giving up control, but instead having a safety net should your circumstances change and you find yourself in need of someone to assist in the management of your day-to-day life.
In short, it is better to have them and not need to use them, than to find yourself in a situation where they are needed and you do not have them in place.
If you lose the capacity to make your own decisions and there is no LPA in place, the alternative route of applying for a Deputyship order is not only long but costly and sometimes complex.
Upcoming changes to the process of registering LPA documents
The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 sets out to digitise the process to make the LPA application process faster, more accessible and more secure.
Whilst the full extent of the changes will not be known until they come into force, we know that the biggest of these changes is the online application process which aims to streamline applications.
Currently, all LPA documents are submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) for registration in the form of paper applications. Whilst you can utilise an online service for drafting the documents and following the progress of an application, physical signatures are still required.
Again, whilst the OPG states that they are seeking to digitalise this process, paper applications will remain in place for those who do have access to the internet or for those who simply do not want to use the online service.
By digitising the application process, the hope is that the current 20-week registration time will be cut. However, if the digitalisation of the Probate application process is an example of what is to come, initial teething problems could see that current timescale increase.
The new reforms are said to aim to help lessen the likelihood of fraud by allowing checks on the identity of the person applying for the LPA.
Currently, both the donor and the attorneys can apply for registration of the documents however, the reforms indicate that soon, only the donor will be able to apply.
Verification
The identification verification will apply to anyone involved in the LPA document, including the attorneys, replacement attorneys and certificate providers.
Should any of these parties be unable to be verified, the OPG will be unable to register the LPA.
It is unknown exactly what the verification process will involve however, a solicitor will be well versed in the requirements and able to help you ensure that the verifications are all done correctly which will help save a lot of time and effort during this process.
Even with these changes, our advice will remain the same:
Using a solicitor to act as the ‘certificate provider’ and drawing up an LPA professionally lessens the likelihood that an LPA will be challenged legally.
Don’t forget to update your Will at the same time as an LPA
When making an LPA, it’s also important that you update your will, because your circumstances are changing. A solicitor could act as an impartial executor, giving legal advice and helping your estate to avoid legal problems.
For more information about Lasting Powers of Attorney or updating your Will, please contact Peter Lynn & Partners on 01792 310731 or email [email protected] to arrange a free initial consultation.