Lasting Powers of Attorney

We can advise, prepare and register your Lasting Powers of Attorney forms for you.

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

Make a Lasting Power of Attorney Finance with Duncan Turner Associates
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows the appointment of one or more people of your choice (attorneys) to manage your affairs.

You can choose to do this just to make your life easier, or for it to be in place in case you cannot manage your own affairs, whether that be through temporary circumstances (such as being unconscious) or permanent ones (such as developing dementia) loss of mental capacity.

Make a Lasting Power of Attorney Health with Duncan Turner Associates

To make a valid LPA you must have the mental capacity to understand what you are doing and you must not have been put under any pressure to create them.

We act as your "certificate provider" to confirm your understanding of the documents.

Download our guide to making Lasting Power of Attorney for individuals

Download our guide to making Lasting Power of Attorney for business owners

 
Why are they important?
 
Unless you have created an LPA while you have the capacity to do so, if your family need to manage property, finances, or make welfare decisions for you, they may have to make an application to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed. This is a costly and lengthy process and the deputy has to produce annual accounts to the Court of Protection showing all transactions made and the reasons for them. Creating an LPA in advance is a much cheaper and easier process than making an application for a deputyship order.

Who could I appoint?
You can appoint as many attorneys as you wish. People normally choose those closest to them to act as their attorneys. They should be people you trust as you will be giving them extensive power to make decisions about either your health and welfare or your property and financial affairs or both. It is also possible to appoint replacement attorneys to take over if your original attorneys are no longer able to act. The people you choose must be 18 years old or over at the time you appoint them.

What are the different types of LPA?

There are 2 different types of LPA: An LPA Financial Decisions enables you to choose who can make financial decisions for you and an LPA Health and Care Decisions enables you to choose who can make decisions about where you should live and medical treatments. You can also put in place a separate LPA Financial Decisions in respect of your business interests.

What can my attorneys do?
Actions LPA PA LPA PA Business LPA HW
Deal with bank accounts
Deal with bills
Deal with making investments
Receive state benefits on your behalf
Sell your home should the need arise
Discuss medical issues with doctors
Make decisions about healthcare
Make decisions about life sustaining treatment
Make decisions about what you eat
Decide on where you should live
When are LPAs registered?
Before your attorneys can act at all, the LPA(s) must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). As the registration can take several weeks, it’s strongly recommended that they are registered immediately upon signature so that they are in place when needed. If you don’t register the LPA, should you lose capacity, your attorneys won’t be able to act on your behalf until they are registered, which may then be too late.

Is there a court fee?
As well as our fixed fees for producing the documents, there is also a court fee. It currently costs £82 to register each LPA which means that it costs £164 to register both a financial decisions LPA and a health and welfare decisions LPA. You may be able to get a reduction or exemption depending on your circumstances. Our consultant will discuss this with you at the meeting. If the fees apply, the OPG will contact you to take the payment by either credit or debit card.

What do I do next?

Simply call us to arrange an appointment and we will visit you at home to discuss your situation. We will take your instructions if you want us to prepare the documents for you. Once they have been drafted we would bring them to you for signing and witnessing. We would complete the registration documents and submit the forms to the Office of the Public Guardian. It will take the court approximately 6-10 weeks to process the forms. Once the court has completed the registration, the LPA(s) will be returned to you for safekeeping.

To discuss LPAs or make an appointment call 0330 311 0910