why a lasting power of attorney ? ( LPA )

have you ever considered what may happen if you ever found yourself in a position where you were unable to make considered decisions about your life, your welfare or even finances ? This may arise for many reasons, perhaps a debilitating illness or accident.

Many people face this every day. This can cause concern and upset to all of your family.

Lets say you are married and have a bank account in your name, this account is where the family day to day money is kept, this is not an unusual position in todays modern society. Then lets say you have an accident where some form of mental or brain damage occurs, again more common than you may think. Now your wife needs money out of the account to buy the shopping or a gift or nees to transfer money. She needs your position, however you are not capable of giving this position, oh dear this family capital is now locked away.

so what happens, your spouse has to apply to the courts for permission to release this capital, this may take several months and you will have to pay court costs, this could be several thousand pounds. When the judge agrees he will appoint a reciever, again time is passing away and more cost involved.

This process could take a year or so and will cost a lot of money.

This process will have to be repeated every time access to this capital is required.

Lets say a spouse has an accident or suffers a stroke for example. You own your home as most of us do as joint tenants, but you now find that your home is now unsuitable for your sick spouse, he may be wheelchair bound, or simply can not get around your home. You can not sell your home without thier consent, so once again the applying to the courts process has to gone through once again, this can be extremely traumatic for the whole family.

A lasting power of attorney can be used to make sure none of this can ever happen. quite simply this is called lifetime planning and is a document that is drafted when you are still capable and of sound mind giving your spouse or family member or even a friend permission to act on your behalf and in your best interest should you ever become incapable of doing so yourself.

an LPA is drafted and kept until required, when it is then registered and becomes effective.

For more information on LPA`s and will writing in general visit http://www.mcwillwriters.co.uk/