What happens if you don’t have an LPA in place?
A Lasting Power of Attorney allows you to have control over who you trust to make decisions on your behalf when you’re no longer able to, whether temporarily or permanently. It provides peace of mind, reduces the stress on your loved ones, and ensures that your wishes are respected.
Here are some of the issues that may arise from not putting one in place.
No automatic legal authority: If you are incapacitated, without an LPA in place no one automatically has the legal right in order to manage your affairs. This includes close family members, friends, and others, even if they have been doing this prior to losing mental capacity.
Court intervention: If mental capacity is lost and an LPA is not put in place prior, your family or loved ones may need to apply for a deputyship order through the Court of Protection. This is a time consuming, costly, and emotional process.
Delays with financial management: Without an LPA, there may be delays in handling important financial, or even legal matters. Without an LPA in place, it’s not simple for your family members/loved ones to access your bank accounts, whether this is to pay bills, manage investments, or dealing with any other financial or tax matters.
Healthcare decisions: Without an LPA, decisions regarding your medical treatment and care could fall to doctors, other family members or the courts which may lead to disagreements or confusion about what you would want. Having an LPA allows you to appoint a trusted person and discuss with them your wishes and preferences so that they can be honoured if you lose mental capacity.
Risk of disputes: If clear guidance of an LPA is not in place, family members or loved ones may have different ideas of what is in your best interests, potentially leading to disputes or misunderstandings.
No longer having control: An LPA allows you to choose who will make decisions on your behalf when you are no longer able to do so. Without one in place, you lose this opportunity for control and someone else, possibly even someone who you would not have chosen, might be appointed to make decisions before you.
If you haven’t set up an LPA yet, it’s wise to consider doing so as soon as possible, while you still have mental capacity to make the decision. Here at Pro-law, we can help you with this process from start to finish, ensuring the document is completed correctly.
