Why serving members of HM Armed Forces need Lasting Powers of Attorney
Imagine the frustration: you have been injured or unwell and are unable to deal physically with your finance and property.
What about the frustration of your family and loved ones? You find yourself incapacitated or perhaps even captured or taken hostage, and as well as the worry of what is happening to you, your family find themselves unable to deal with financial affairs that require your consent.
The solution – an Armed Forces Lawyers LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney)
Luckily you took up Armed Forces Lawyers Bird & Co’s offer of a 10% discount to Members of HM Forces when preparing a lasting power of attorney reducing the cost to £360 + VAT + filing fee (payable to the Office of the Public Guardian, £82.00 as at January 2018)
With your lasting power of attorney property and financial affairs in place even when you retain your mental capacity you can ask your attorney or attorneys to deal with your property and financial affairs as you would like and if you were to lose your mental capacity to make such decisions your attorney or attorneys can make those decisions on your behalf and for your benefit.
If you do not have a lasting power of attorney property and financial affairs in place and lose your mental capacity to make decisions about your property and financial affairs anyone can make an application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as your deputy to deal with your property and financial affairs. Our fees for this work are £1,500.00 plus VAT and a court filing fee (currently £400). There is also a doctor’s report in the region of £300 and annual insurance which all comes out of your assets if the deputy is appointed. It is much simpler and cheaper to have an LPA in place to start with.
If you have in place a lasting power of attorney property and financial affairs, this can enable your spouse, civil partner, cohabitee (if appointed as your attorney) and in any event your appointed attorney to deal with your property and financial affairs, carrying out your instructions when you are posted away or overseas.
You can also make a lasting power of attorney to deal with your health and welfare, under which if and only if you lose the capacity to make decisions about your health and welfare can your attorney or attorneys make such decisions for you. This can include the refusal of treatment.
If you decide to make both a lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs and one for health and welfare at the same time we can prepare both documents for you and register them with the Office of the public guardian for £585 + VAT + the 2 filing fees payable.
We are able to store your lasting powers of attorney FREE of charge. We can also act as a “gatekeeper” in respect of your lasting powers of attorney which means that we can release the same to you at your request at anytime provided that you have mental capacity but we can only release them to your attorney or attorneys upon production of a medical report confirming that you do not have capacity to make decisions about your finances and property and/or health and welfare.
You have the means to take control of your life whilst you have capacity don’t leave things to chance and end up with a deputy that would not have been your choice.
We can email you a lasting power of attorney questionnaire to complete at your leisure at home and would then ask you to call Joanne on 01636 616353 or email at willsandprobate@birdandco.co.uk to make an appointment when your instructions will be taken in full.
Don’t delay because it takes the Office of the Public Guardian around 13weeks to register your lasting power of attorney and only once it is registered (in the case of a property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney and in the case of a health and welfare lasting power of attorney only once registered and you have lost your capacity to make such decisions yourself) can your attorney act under the same.
