Powers of Attorney and Deputeeship

This gives power to someone to act on your behalf to deal with your property and affairs or your personal welfare.

Dealing with your financial affairs

Every adult has the right to manage his or her own money and affairs.  However the ability to do this may impaired due to illness, disability or accident. 

Ordinary Power of Attorney

This gives power to someone you trust to act on your behalf – it may be for a specific time or action or a general power. However if you become mentally incapable of dealing with your financial affairs this power of attorney can no longer be used.

This type of power of attorney can be helpful if, for example, you are going abroad for a short time and wish to appoint an attorney to act for you whilst you are away. We can advise you on the preparation and completion of an Ordinary Power of Attorney.

Lasting Power of Attorney

There are two types.  The first gives the power to manage your property and financial affairs to someone you trust, that is to be your attorney.  It will continue even if you become unable to manage your affairs, whether temporarily or permanently.  It cannot be used until it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. 

The second Lasting Power of Attorney gives someone you trust the right to make personal welfare and medical treatment decisions on your behalf.  This Lasting Power of Attorney can also only be used once it has been registered but can only be used in relation to decisions that you lack capacity to make yourself. 

For either of the Lasting Powers of Attorney to be valid you must fully understand the implications of the arrangement at the time of making it.  You will also need a Certificate Provider to sign a Certificate in the power to say that you are entering the arrangement of your own free will and understand the implications of the Power.  The attorney or attorneys will need to sign a statement to accept the appointment.  An attorney must be over 18 (and not bankrupt for the Power relating to Property and Affairs).

To register a Lasting Power of Attorney an application form and fee are sent to the Office of the Public Guardian.  Notices are sent to the named persons who are people named by you in the Lasting Power who can raise any concerns on your behalf about the Lasting Power of Attorney being registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

The Office of the Public Guardian keep a register of Lasting Powers of Attorney which can be accessed.

We can provide advice and assist you in making the Lasting Power of Attorney and its registration with the Public Guardianship Office.

Enduring Powers of Attorney

These were the predecessors to Lasting Powers of Attorney and were made before October 2007. They are still valid and depending on how they were set up may be used before registering with the Public Guardianship Office. We can give you further advice on this.

If the person who made the Enduring Power of Attorney (the donor) becomes or is becoming mentally incapable of dealing with their financial affairs then the person appointed to deal with the donor's affairs (the attorney) has a duty to register the Enduring Power of Attorney with the Public Guardianship Office. Certain people from a prescribed list must be notified and the application form and fee sent to the Public Guardianship Office. We are able to deal with this procedure on your behalf.

Deputeeship

If someone is mentally incapable of making a particular decision at a particular time and they have not made a Lasting Power of Attorney or an Enduring Power of Attorney, the matter can be referred to the Court of Protection.  The Court may make the decision itself or appoint a Deputy to make the decision for them.  Where a Deputy is appointed to manage someone’s property and financial affairs, they have to keep accounts, enter into a security bond and report to the Office of the Public Guardian.

The Court charges a one-off application fee and the Office of the Public Guardian charges a yearly fee to cover the cost of supervising the Deputy’s work. We can assist you in completing the application.

Other applications to the Court may be relevant, for instance, for making a gift or making a Statutory Will and we can assist you in dealing with these.

If a person is incapacitated and entitled to receive retirement pension or other State pension, the Department for Work and Pensions can chose an Appointee to receive those benefits on that person’s behalf.  The Appointee can be a relative, friend or someone from the caring profession such as the Local Authority Social Services Department.

We understand that as circumstances change our clients have different needs and we offer advice and assistance in relation to Wills, Dealing with your Financial Affairs, nursing home fees, equity release plans, preparing tax returns and repayment claims from H M Revenue & Customs.

Our office has disabled access or home visits can be arranged. We can produce documents in large type. Please let us know if you have any special needs or concerns.

Related websites

H M Revenue & Customs – www.hmrc.gov.uk
Office of the Public Guardian – www.guardianship.gov.uk
Age Concern – www.ageconcern.org.uk

If you need advice on a legal matter please contact us, and we will respond as soon as possible, or call us on 01923 225212.