Will Provider are Derby Lasting Power of Attorney Specialists.
We have now gone through both Property and Finance LPA document, and Health and Welfare LPA document, both require you to choose Attorneys that you appoint to act on your behalf.
Please feel free to contact us by phone, email or Facebook messenger if you have any queries, or you wish to know more about us.
We will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have either over the phone or in person.
Anybody who is over the age of 18, and who is not bankrupt can be an attorney.
Most people choose their spouse, friends and other family members who they trust but you can select a professional attorney however they will usually want paying for their services.
It’s a good idea if you are choosing an older person to be your attorney to balance this with a younger person but ideally choose younger attorneys.
There is no limit for how many number of attorneys you can have currently. It is always a good idea to appoint more than one attorney as this covers the eventuality of anything happening to the attorney that may prevent them from acting as your attorney as this invalidates the Lasting Power of Attorney, but it is very important to consider the way more than one attorney is added.
Ideally there should be up to four attorneys you will need to consider how they will work together.
In selecting your Attorneys it makes sense to consider the geographical position of the attorneys to be appointed and how easy it is for each them to communicate with one another especially if they are to act jointly.
Any decision they need to make whether one you have made yourself, or they have made must always be in your best interest.
You may also want to specify that attorneys must act jointly for specific decisions, such as selling a house, but they can act jointly and severally for all other decisions.
You might also consider appointing replacement attorneys, in case something happens to one of your attorneys and they are unable to act on your behalf anymore.
Whilst Joint appointments act as a safeguard against an attorney acting against your best interest, it has multiple disadvantages. The main one being that should one attorney die, lose capacity or, in the case of a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, be declared bankrupt, the remaining attorneys cannot continue to use the LPA.
Appointing attorneys to act Jointly and severally can be more advantageous, it provides far more flexibility, allowing for attorneys to continue to act should an attorney die or lose capacity but as downside it also removes some of the safeguards restricting the possibility for attorney to act fraudulently.
The choice of who you are going to select to act as your attorneys is a personal one that only you will be able to make. You will need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of how they are to act and carefully balance of the safeguards against flexibility and ensuring the continuation of your LPA.
This may be where you need professional help to discuss these options in more detail to ensure that you make the right choices for your circumstances.
If you are going to incur the expense of registering the LPA, it is going to be important that you make sure that you get not only the registration right but that the LPA is going to work the way you want to if you ever need it. Feel free to call us today if you would like to discuss lasting powers of attorney in more detail