A Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows somebody act on your behalf. It may be in the purchase or management of property where the owner will not be available for a particular length of time. It may be dedicated to a specific task and expire after a chosen length of time.
Property and Affairs Power of Attorney is the most common one used and it gives you peace of mind should you ever need someone else to look after your affairs. A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint a person or persons to make decisions on your behalf. in the future in case you lose the mental capacity or prefer not to make those type of decisions. The Lasting Power can be specified to address your personal health and welfare concerns when you lack the capacity to make them for yourself through unconsciousness or dementia. It may separately address property and your financial arrangements. It may be easier for someone you trust to pay bills or arrange insurance particularly if you are under medication or recovering from an accident. The Lasting Power of Attorney or LPA allows you to appoint one or more person to assist you should you lose mental capacity in the future and not be able to deal with your affairs.
Without an LPA, it is up to the Court of Protection to decide who will assist you and the process can take six months or more. By drawing up an LPA, you are deciding who is the best person to assist you. You can also add guidelines and conditions to the LPA allowing you to tailor it to your requirements.
You can draw up a Property & Affairs LPA (to cover your financial affairs) and a Health & Welfare LPA (to cover health decisions – ranging from residential care to life sustaining treatment).