Lasting Power of Attorney Solicitors in Cardiff

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that appoints someone to manage your affairs, should you ever lose the capacity to do this yourself. Having an LPA in place is an important part of planning for the future and will give your family the reassurance of knowing that they will be able to step in to help you if you ever need it.

At hpjv Solicitors, we provide LPA advice and assistance, and we can ensure that you have a tailored document in place that accurately reflects your wishes. We also deal with related issues such as registering the LPA and advice for families who are helping someone who does not have an LPA in place.

We know that thinking about the future is not always easy and you will find our LPA team members friendly, approachable and easy to talk to. We are always happy to discuss any concerns you may have and you are welcome to call us to ask questions as needed.

Our advice will be clear and helpful and we will take the time to understand your situation and exactly how you want to protect your position for the future.

Our LPA Solicitors in Cardiff offer a full range of services, including:

Lasting Power of Attorney advice – discussing your situation and working with you to establish how you want your affairs dealt with in the future
Advice on capacity
Property and financial affairs Lasting Powers of Attorney
Health and welfare Lasting Powers of Attorney
Business Lasting Powers of Attorney
Registering Lasting Powers of Attorney
Advice for attorneys

At hpjv Solicitors, we will take the time to understand how you would like to protect yourself and your family for the future and ensure that you have the right documents in place to accomplish this.

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Speak to one of our expert Lasting Power of Attorney solicitors in Cardiff, South Wales, today by calling 02921 304 307 or send us an enquiry.

How we can help you with Lasting Powers of Attorney

Lasting Power of Attorney advice

An LPA is a formal legal document that allows you to appoint someone to deal with your affairs in the future, should you ever become unable to manage them yourself.

You can make different types of LPA:

Property and financial affairs LPA
Health and welfare LPA
Business LPA

If you ask us to help you with putting an LPA in place, we will go through the different LPAs available and discuss the range of authority you can give to your attorney. We will ensure that your representative will be able to provide the assistance you might need in the future and that you understand the implications of signing and the way in which the process works.

You can choose one or more attorneys and have different attorneys for each type of LPA if you want. You may want to appoint a back-up as well in case your original choice is unable or unwilling to take on the role, should it ever be necessary.

If you appoint more than one attorney, you will need to decide whether you want them each to be able to act independently or whether you want them both to approve decisions together. You can choose a combination, for example, allowing them to make smaller decisions separately but requiring larger decisions, such as the sale of your home, to be made jointly. We can advise you of your options and discuss what might be appropriate for your circumstances.

Advice on capacity

A Lasting Power of Attorney must be made while the person signing it, known as the donor, still has the mental capacity to understand what they are signing. Once someone has lost this level of understanding, they will not be able to make an LPA.

Even if someone has the early stages of mental incapacity, it may still be possible for them to make an LPA. If you are facing this difficult situation with a loved one, we can advise on the process, to include ensuring that they are independently assessed to establish whether they have the necessary capacity to sign.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 requires that the donor should:

Be given all relevant information;
Be able to retain this information; and
Be able to consider the information in order to make a decision

The donor must have sufficient mental capacity to understand:

The function of an LPA
Why they wish to make an LPA
Who they want to act as their attorney
Why they are choosing this person
The scope of the authority their attorney will have

A mental capacity professional who is able to confirm that the donor meets the above criteria, such as a doctor or social worker, should then also sign the LPA as the certificate provider confirming this.

Property and financial affairs Lasting Powers of Attorney

A property and financial affairs LPA can give your attorney the authority to deal with a range of issues. The following matters are commonly included:

Accessing your bank account
Paying bills
Receiving benefits
Insuring and maintaining your home
Making investments
Selling your home, should this be necessary

If you want, you can allow your attorney to use a property and financial affairs LPA while you are still able to make your own decisions. This can be useful if you want them to help you with certain transactions.

Health and welfare Lasting Powers of Attorney

A health and welfare LPA allows your attorney to deal with matters related to your personal wellbeing on your behalf, such as:

Arranging care
Deciding on your daily routine
Deciding where you will live
Approving who you will see
Authorising or declining medical treatment on your behalf

Unlike a property and financial affairs LPA, a health and welfare LPA can only be used if you lose the mental capacity to manage matters yourself.

Business Lasting Powers of Attorney

If you own or have a key role in a business, you can make a business LPA. This will allow someone to step in, should you ever be unable to make decisions, either because you are unavailable or because you have lost mental capacity.

Business owners usually choose different attorneys for their business affairs and their personal property and financial affairs LPA. It is generally advisable to select someone with a good working knowledge of the business to be your representative, and this might not be the same person who you want to deal with your own financial matters.

Registering your Lasting Power of Attorney

Once we have drafted your LPA and arranged for it to be executed, we can arrange for it to be registered. All LPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before use. Registering it in advance means that it will be ready, should it ever be needed.

The OPG usually take several months to register an LPA and they may have queries to be answered before completing the registration. By dealing with this straightaway, it means that there will not be a difficult delay should the document ever be needed by your family.

Advice for attorneys

We also provide advice for those who have been appointed as an attorney under an LPA. It can be daunting to take on responsibility for someone else’s affairs and we can provide guidance and representation.

As an attorney, you will need to keep accurate financial and other records, to include records of major decisions that you took, the reasons for your decisions and who you consulted before making the decision.

Your powers will be limited to the authority set out in the LPA. We can assist you if you need to make a decision that is not covered by the LPA or if you need to check that you have the authority to do something on behalf of the donor.

We also provide advice on compliance and staying within the rules set out in the Mental Capacity Act.

Our Lasting Power of Attorney expertise

We have been helping clients with LPAs for many years and have the experience to identify the best way of ensuring that you have help in the future, should this ever be needed.

We are known for the excellent service we provide and the professional and tailored advice we offer.

We hold the Law Society’s Lexcel accreditation in recognition of our high standards of client care, legal compliance and practice management.

For more information about our services, see Wills and probate services in Cardiff.