If you are thinking about asking LSUK to complete an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) for you, you might want to act now before the changes from October 1st 2007.
An EPA can be extremely useful if your personal circumstances change and you are unable to manage your own affairs. Whatever your age or present state of your health, it is something you could consider If you are unable to continue managing your affairs, if for instance you are incapacitated by an accident or illness, a power of attorney grants your chosen representative authority to manage your property or financial matters for you. If you have not previously granted a power of attorney your relatives may have to apply to the Court of Protection to achieve the same result - an expensive and time consuming process.
If you have a completed EPA before the changeover date you can continue to hold it and use it later if and when the need arises.
From 1 October 2007 the existing rules for the issue of EPA’s are to be changed. The changes only affect the law applied in England and Wales – Scotland’s existing legislation won’t change.
Changes proposed for England and Wales from 1 October 2007:
From this date EPA’s will be replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA’s). There are several differences:
Enduring Power of Attorney
• Currently enables an individual, the Donor, to appoint an Attorney to deal with their financial affairs.
• It can be used even when the Donor has subsequently lost their mental capacity.
• When the Attorney believes mental capacity is an issue they must inform relatives and register the EPA with the Court of Protection.
Lasting Power of Attorney
• Will come in two parts, one part to deal with Donor’s financial affairs and the other the Donor’s health and welfare (partially dealt with now by a Living Will/Advance Directive).
• Choices: The Donor can appoint an Attorney to deal with financial affairs only, health and welfare only, or both.
• LPAs must be registered before they can be used.
• An LPA needs a Certificate of Capacity - an independent opinion confirming that the Donor was mentally capable at the time of signing the LPA, and that they were not under any undue influence.
Please ask LSUK for more detailed information as the new LPA requirements are more complex and therefore more expensive to set up.
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