Speak with us:
Mon - Thurs 09:00 - 17:00
Fri - 09:00 - 15:00

Lasting Power of Attorney


Choosing an Attorney

If you've followed a link to this page you may want to start at the beginning with Lasting Power of Attorney - Introduction.

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.

This is a crucial decision and goes beyond simply choosing people to act on your behalf as you must also decide how they act together for your best interests.

Lasting Power of Atorney Derby guide

This guide has been broken down into sections, we cover:

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.


So who should I choose to be an Attorney?

And what does it mean?

The Attorney takes on quite a bit of responsibility and could end up making some very important decisions for you, they are the people who you appoint to manage your affairs on your behalf.



So it’s important that you choose someone carefully ensuring that they will be able to carry out the duties of an attorney if the time arises and that you can trust them to act in your best interests at all times.

Who can be an Attorney?


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.

How many Attorneys can I have?


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.

How the Attorney(s) are to act


There are always a few basic principles that your Attorneys must follow.


You don’t always have to lose capacity for a Lasting Power of Attorney to be of use, perhaps increasing mobility issues combined with lack of parking in city centres near to buildings and facilities you need to use or perhaps loss of hearing in the case of telephone banking restricts your ability from enforcing decisions you are capable of making, in which case you can still make your own decisions it’s just you need somebody to physically act on your behalf which is why there are a few basic principles of Attorneys.

derby lasting power of attorney The Attorneys you have chosen must always assume that you can make your own decisions unless it has been medically established that you can’t.


lasting power of attorney derby They must help you make as many decisions for yourself as they can.


derby lasting power of attorney Attorneys cannot just assume you are incapable of making decisions unless it has already been medically established. s


LPA derby Making an unwise decision does not mean you are incapable of making decisions - Mistakes happen.


Derby LPA They must always act in your best interest when you are incapable of making decisions for yourself.


Attorneys are your last line of support in restoring control to your life.

They are in place to enforce your decisions or make their own to maintain a good quality of life for you.

Any decision they need to make whether one you have made yourself, or they have made must always be in your best interest.

It is very important for you to decide
how your Attorneys will make decisions.

Jointly

meaning they work together on all matters, and must always agree.


Jointly and severally

where they may act together or separately, as you choose.


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

Speak to us, Derby Lasting Power of Attorney specialists
Will Provider
01332 410044
Have you found this page useful?

Do you know somebody who should be reading more about Lasting Power of Attorney?


Derby Lasting Power of Attorney guide
Please consider sharing this page with them.
You've just read "Who can be my attorney"
What's next?