FAQs

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How much does it cost to make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

With Diverse Abilities, it costs £186 for two LPAs and £285 for couples LPAs.

Why do I need a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)?

If you lost mental capacity to make your own decisions, your family cannot make those decisions on your behalf unless they have legal authority to do so. An LPA gives you the opportunity to give the person/people that you trust and know you best, the legal authority to act on your behalf.

What would happen if I lost mental capacity to make decisions but didn’t have an LPA?

If your family had to make decisions on your behalf, they would have to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which is a longer process and is more expensive.

Can I still manage my own affairs if I take out an LPA?

Yes! The Finance and Property LPA can be used while you have mental capacity to make your own decisions, but only under your instruction. You are still in control of your own decision making.

Note: a Health and Welfare LPA can only be used if you lose mental capacity to make your own care and welfare decisions.

Why is the Health and Welfare LPA necessary?

The Health and Welfare LPA covers decisions such as where someone will live, who will visit them, and decisions about medical treatment. It allows the option for your attorney(s) to discuss and make decisions on life sustaining treatment and allows your attorney(s) to make decisions in relation to residential care, should it be relevant.

You choose whether you want your attorney(s) to have the option to make decisions on life sustaining treatment.

How many attorneys can I have?

There is no upper limit on the number of attorneys you can have, however you must consider the practicalities of your attorneys working together.

Is it more expensive to have more than one attorney?

No.

Can someone who is bankrupt be a finance attorney?

Someone who is under a bankruptcy order cannot be an attorney on a Property and Finance LPA, until their bankruptcy is discharged. Someone who is subject to a debt order cannot be an attorney on a Property and Finance LPA.

How should my attorneys act?

If you appoint your attorneys jointly, the law will see them as one unit, therefore, if one cannot act the other cannot act alone. If you appoint your attorneys jointly and severally, each attorney can act alone, if one attorney could no longer act for you the remaining one could carry on.

How do I make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

You can use a solicitor, an organisation such as Diverse Abilities, or, you can use the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) website and draft the LPA yourself.

Whichever method you use, you will have to pay registration fees to the OPG.