As we said in the previous blog, if the take-up rates of wills are worrying then the same rates for Lasting Powers of Attorney are shocking.
In some ways a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is even more important than a Will because it controls what happens to you when you are still alive. We have seen clients of all ages who have ‘lost capacity’ and it is terrible to think that without an LPA people have to act for them without really knowing their wishes.
There is a ‘This American Life’ podcast about an end-of-life care nurse, who due to what she saw in her day to day work, insisted that she didn’t want to be resuscitated at the end of her own life. Resuscitation can be pointless in some cases for the patient and very distressing for the relatives, as I know from my own family’s experience. This nurse sadly developed ALS or Lou Gehrig disease in her early forties and her husband was clear on her wishes as she had recorded them. When they got to the hospital at the end of her life, he expected her to refuse any life sustaining treatment but faced with death, she changed her mind and was able to communicate that she wanted to gain whatever few hours the doctors could buy her.
Now imagine not being able to communicate that this was your wish. This is what an LPA protects you from. Like the nurse, it is hard to know how we will feel when faced with a loss of capacity, but it is worse if those decisions are left to medical professionals or court appointed deputies who don’t know us from the next person.
Loss of capacity can come at any point in time, from an accident or illness that doesn’t kill but does impair us. It becomes more likely as we age but it is important that everyone has these crucial documents.
An LPA once complete is registered with the Court of Protection and just needs a medical professional to certify loss of capacity and then it can be used. You can include a power for people to act earlier (a general power) and this can be useful if you happen to be travelling overseas for instance and something needs to be done in your absence.
There are two LPAs one for Finance & Property and one for Health & Welfare. Often clients will appoint different attorneys for each as they may have one child who is good at handling the money and one they trust to make the right decisions about care.
You can appoint multiple attorneys and include non-attorneys that you would like to be informed of anyone acting under the power of attorney. Your attorneys can be set-up to make joint decisions requiring all to agree or jointly and severally, allowing them to sign-off individually on decisions. You can also give instructions to your attorneys (that they have to follow) or guidance.
Again there is an LPA service available via MyChoice which is useful as completing the forms can be gruelling and the Court of Protection will reject cases (after a long wait of up to six months) that have errors or even where they don’t like the wording.
