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Powers of Attorney

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The following service is separate from our relationship with Intrinsic who are not responsible for any advice or information contained on this page.

Powers of Attorney and will writing are not regulated by the FCA.

Ensure someone can handle your financial affairs for you - if you can't.

Whilst many people may have made a Will many less have legally appointed someone or people, (an attorney/s) to look after their finances or health if they become unable to manage it themselves through illness, accident or simply age. Yet failing to make a power of attorney is much more likely to cause problems to the individual concerned than dying without a Will

Problems of not making a Power of Attorney?

If you find yourself in this situation and your parent or relative who you are organising care for hasn’t made a power of attorney, unless you are a joint account holder with your parent or person in need of care (unlikely), or they are still compos mentis and can still make decisions for themselves, you will helping them manage their finances very difficult and in most cases impossible. Typically this can include not being able to:-

  • Access their bank account to pay care fees (even if you are their son or daughter)
  • Realise the value of any investments, to help pay for care.
  • Sell any property
  • Make decisions or even to be involved in discussions over your parent’s health or future welfare (including local authority care assessment meetings) and whether any life support can continue or be given. (Health and Welfare Lasting Powers of Attorney only.

That’s why we would always advise our clients, who do not have one, to put a power of attorney in place as sensible preparation for possibly being unable to manage their own affairs. DON’T forget it is not just for when you lose mental capacity but also when you just simply find managing your affairs difficult and this can of course arise as a result of a car/plane/work accident or even strokes/heart attacks- all of which can of course happen at anytime.

Certainly if you are reading this because you are responsible for overseeing someone’s long term care and they don’t have either an old type Enduring Power of Attorney (still valid) or the newer Lasting Power of Attorney, providing they still have mental capacity we would strongly urge you to talk to the person needing care about making one and then call us to arrange one.

If your parent or relative still has mental capacity, all is not lost and as licenced Will and Power of Attorney consultant, we can help them make one - but it can take several weeks to obtain and be registered - so you may still encounter some problems whilst you wait for it to be written and registered.

On the other hand if your parent or relative is no longer compos mentis, they will not be able to make a Power of Attorney and the only solution then is to apply to become a Court appointed Deputy for them.  This is very time consuming, beaurocratic and costly.  It will also mean that you will have to account to the Court of Protection annually over what you have done with the donors money and depending on the permissions the court may grant you, you may not be able to make some decisions like selling the house or buying a care fees funding plan, without getting it rubber stamped by the Court.  Each time you have to involve the Court it costs - leading only to further erosion of capital!


Types of Powers of Attorney

Powers of Attorney can either be:

  • General powers of attorney which only remain valid until someone loses capacity – useful for giving someone temporary powers to manage your affairs perhaps while you are going to reside abroad for a while.
  • Lasting Powers of Attorney which allow the attorney to continue to manage the affairs of the person who appointed them (the Donor) even when the Donor loses mental capacity. They must however be made whilst the Donor has capacity to decide who they would like to act for them. There are two different Lasting Powers of Attorney – one for power of finances and the other which allows someone else to make decisions over the Donors medical treatment and their welfare.

Choosing Attorneys

  • Because you will be wanting an annuity to be able to help you manage your own affairs and unless you restrict the powers you give them, it is wise for you to choose only those you can trust. Attorneys must be 18+ and of sound mind.
  • You can either appoint just one attorney to act or more than one. If you chose just one, we would suggest you also appoint a reserve attorney to step in if something happens to your sole attorney preventing them from acting. If appointing more than one, you can chose whether they must act jointly in every decision which would mean both would have to sign everything (e.g cheques, applications for selling investments, property etc) which can be difficult at times, or you can allow them to act separately of each other which means either can independently of each other act (which can be best just in case one may be ill, or too far away to sign paperwork etc). Alternatively in joint attorney cases you can chose to state that they must act jointly in some issues such as possibly selling your home but allow them to act independently of each other in smaller matters.

Don't delay - make a Power of Attorney today - before it becomes too late.

So if you find yourself in this situation, or would like to make one for yourself (don’t forget you may become incapacitated at any time due to an accident –they are not just for older people) please call us or complete our enquiry form and indicate your interest in Lasting Powers of Attorney and we will call you back to discuss your requirements further at our expense.


Free Factsheet on Powers of Attorney

Alternatively if you would like to find out more about POA’s download our free factsheet

Don't delay make a Power of Attorney today - before it becomes too late.

No one knows when an accident or ill health will happen, so even if your parent has already made you Power of Attorney for their affairs, make sure your money and health can also be looked after by someone you trust – simply and easily by making a Power of Attorney for yourself now. Alternatively if your parent hasn't made one (or would like to change an existing one) and is still compos mentis and would like to make one, please call us, or complete our enquiry form and indicate your interest in Lasting Powers of Attorney. We will then call you back to discuss your requirements further.

Remember - "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." Benjamin Franklin

Lasting Powers of Attorney are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Free Factsheet on Powers of Attorney

Alternatively if you would like to find out more about POA's download our free factsheet, or by visiting https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-a-lasting-power-of-attorney

   

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267 Barrowby Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 8NR

Telephone: 0800 180 4336
Email: enquiries@adviceoncare.co.uk

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