What if I don’t make a Lasting Power of Attorney ?

If you don’t have an LPA-PA

If you do not have an LPA-PA, then if for any reason you suddenly become unable to manage your own affairs, e.g.

• You suffer an accident and are confined to bed or hospital
• You suffer a more serious accident which permanently incapacitates you
• You become mentally incapacitated as a result of old age or for some other reason

... then the only way that your financial affairs can be managed is by an application (by a relative or other person close to you) to the Court of Protection.

This can take up to 10 months and cost up to £1,000 (or even more) to process - during which time your finances could be seriously damaged - and the person authorised to handle your affairs on your behalf is not only unlikely to be who you would have chosen, but may even be a Court Official - who can (and will) charge every time he/she acts for you.

To be clear: WITHOUT an LPA-PA, a husband, wife, civil partner, COULD NOT act act on your behalf, and WOULD HAVE TO go through the above process.

HOWEVER, if you do have an LPA-PA, your chosen representatives can act for you straight away if you become unable to handle your own affairs.

If you don’t have an LPA-HW

Likewise, if you do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney - Health & Welfare (an ‘LPA-HW’) then in the above circumstances your relatives would have to apply to the court for authorisation to take Health & welfare decisions on your behalf, e.g.

• giving or refusing consent to particular types of health care, including medical treatment decisions; or
• whether you continue to live in your own home, perhaps with help and support from social services, or whether residential care would be more appropriate for you; or
• decisions about ‘life-sustaining treatment’

If you wish to read more on the subject of Lasting Powers of Attorney, we recommend that you download these two documents:-

• ‘Why Make an LPA?’
• ‘The LPA-PA and The LPA-HW’