Lasting power of attorney solicitors

While Power of Attorney and Lasting Power of Attorney let you appoint someone to act in your place, there are key differences between them. Power of Attorney is a legal document that grants someone temporary authority to handle your financial affairs. This can be helpful during short-term situations like travel or whilst you are in hospital.

Lasting Power of Attorney, however, comes into effect only if you lose capacity and needs to be approved by the Court of Protection.  A Lasting Power of Attorney stays in place unless revoked by you during a period when you still have capacity or by the Court should there be found to be an abuse of the role of your Attorney.

In cases where someone is no longer able to make their own decisions and a power of attorney is not in place, it is necessary to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed. A deputy is granted powers by the court similar to those held by someone who is a named power of attorney. 

It means the court will decide who makes decisions on behalf of a person that is unable to do it for themselves.

It is usually much less complicated, costly and upsetting for a family if a power of attorney has already been appointed according to an individual’s wishes. Deputyship proceedings are sometimes unavoidable, such as when a child who lacks mental capacity reaches 18 or when someone loses capacity unexpectedly as when they have suffered a brain injury. 

If there is a dispute over what is in the best interests of someone who has lost mental capacity, solicitors can help.

Solicitors can mediate and, if necessary, support an application to the Court of Protection to rule on the decision.

It is usually best to avoid a court case where possible as it can be time-consuming, stressful and costly.

Specialist power of attorney solicitors have experience of dealing with disagreements and disputes and can often help to resolve the issue in a more informal way.

Disputes can arise when two people have the best interests of someone at heart but disagree over what should be done.

This could include whether to:

• sell a house or rent it out

• organise care at home or in a residential setting
• pursue certain medical treatments.

Working with a solicitor when you register a power of attorney can help to lay the solid groundwork to help avoid disputes arising later.

It is possible to register a power of attorney without the support of a solicitor, but by doing so you may miss out on useful advice and guidance.

A specialist solicitor will likely raise issues you would not otherwise consider when registering the power of attorney. Dealing with those issues in advance can prevent a lot of difficulties later or the inconvenience and cost of having to make changes to the power of attorney registration. A solicitor may also help move the registration along quicker without the need for clarifications or amendments, which can be particularly important if there is a diagnosis of a degenerative illness that affects mental capacity.

Mistakes and omissions, when creating a power of attorney, can lead to complex disputes and misunderstandings that may even have to be resolved in court.

An advance decision or living will is very different to a power of attorney.

Power of attorney gives legal responsibility to one or more named people to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to.

An ‘advance decision’ or living will is your opportunity to detail for yourself what treatments or medication you may or may not wish to have if certain medical conditions arise. This may include, for example, a ‘do-not-resuscitate’ request.

Here at Enable Law, we can provide support with making a living will too. Contact us for more information.

There are ways to object to the decision or a power of attorney or to the appointment of a specific person as a power of attorney.

Both of these things can be quite complex and it may be best to try to resolve the issues initially via mediation rather than through official legal processes.