If you are retired and want to ensure you have the correct documents regarding your finances, health, and welfare, this article provides you with the information you need.

If you were to lose mental capacity, then many people wrongly assume that your family can automatically access your financial assets and make decisions regarding your health. This is not the case, and if you lose capacity, whether through dementia, an accident, a stroke, etc., no one has the legal authority to access your finances or make decisions regarding your health and welfare.

In practice, this means that no one can pay your utility bills or care fees. If you need medical treatments, then no one has the authority to make decisions about the care that you are to receive. It is ultimately down to the doctors to decide what medical treatments you receive. 

At our recent Retirement+ event at Stow Maries, we outlined the importance of putting in place Lasting Powers of Attorneys. There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorneys: one that covers property and financial affairs and the other that covers health and welfare.

Under a Lasting Power of Attorney, you, as the donor, appoint people to act on your behalf in the event that you cannot make certain decisions. 

A property and financial affairs attorney

The attorney can make decisions regarding any financial asset you have, such as bank accounts, pensions, or investments, and they have the power to sell your property.

Under this document, an attorney can act whilst you still have mental capacity, and you need assistance in dealing with your finances, or if you were to lose mental capacity in the future.

A health and welfare attorney

The attorney can make decisions regarding what medicine you receive, where you live, and your daily routine, such as washing and eating. Your attorneys also make decisions about any life-sustaining treatment that you may need in the future, such as if you were ever put on a life support machine or if you need certain cancer treatments.

Under this document, an attorney can only act if you were to lose mental capacity. So long as you have mental capacity, you can make any decisions regarding your health and welfare needs, even if they are deemed to be unwise.

Who can be an attorney?

The people you appoint as your attorneys must be over the age of 18, have mental capacity, and must not have been made bankrupt. This could be a family member, friend, etc. 

When considering who to appoint, you should also consider the geographical implications on whether the attorney needs to live locally to you to deal with your finances or if it is the case that all your banking is done online, so they do not need to live near you.

You do not need to appoint the same people as your attorney for property, financial affairs, and health and welfare.

What happens if you do not have in place Lasting Powers of Attorneys

Without putting Lasting Powers of Attorneys in place, if you were to lose mental capacity, someone would have to apply to the Court of Protection to become your deputy to gain access to your finances and make decisions regarding your health.

This is a more timely and costly procedure than putting in place Lasting Powers of Attorneys, and the person the court appoints as your deputy may not be the person who you would want to act. This could be because perhaps you have had a falling out with them or you think they will make unwise decisions about you.

With Lasting Powers of Attorneys, you have the discretion to appoint only the people that you want to act, and the documents can be used as soon as they have been registered with the court. So, should you require assistance at short notice, for example, if you were in a car accident, your loved ones can make decisions about you right away rather than going through the stressful court process of becoming a deputy, as this can take several months before an outcome is made.

Therefore, it is always worth putting in place Lasting Powers of Attorneys because they are cheaper and take a lot less time to put in place, and ultimately, the people that you want to act as your attorneys are actually appointed!

Next steps

Our clients and their loved ones always express how relieved they are once they have put Lasting Powers of Attorneys in place, knowing that their affairs are in order, as it gives them a lot of peace of mind. You never know what is around the corner, and so should the worst happen, at least by putting in place Lasting Powers of Attorneys, you have the correct legal documents so that the people close to you can make decisions on your behalf.
 

If you would like to get in touch with one of our Lasting Powers of Attorneys specialists about putting them in place, then please get in touch at 0330 818 3324 or via leah.woodlee@birkettlong.co.uk