Today’s blog talks about what you can do to ensure you remain in control of decisions that are made about you, even if you lose the capacity to make those decisions.
To do this, while you are fit and well, you appoint a trusted person (friend, relative, etc.) who will be able to act on your behalf or make decisions for you, if you were no able to or you no longer want to. You might wonder why you would want someone else to make decisions for you, some such reasons might be:
- Temporary Situation: hospitalisation means you need someone to pay your bills, collect your pension, old age might mean one isn’t able to get about easily anymore, etc.
- Longer term situation: diagnosis with a long term illness that would mean loss of mental capacity, old age and loss of memory, etc.
We all think that won’t be me, I’m fit or some think, those things happen to others and not me, but the reality is no one knows how the wind will blow and what adversity will hit or when/what we will be or feel like as the years pile on. With Power of Attorneys, we are able to deal with these situations by appointing a trusted person (with whom we might have discussed what we want to happen in different scenarios) to act on one’s behalf if the need arose.
Below are the types of Power of Attorneys that can be set up:
Ordinary Power of Authority (OPA) – This gives someone you appoint as your Attorney, the right to make financial decisions on your behalf. It is only valid if you have the mental capacity to make decisions. This could be limited to specific aspects of your finances e.g. a specific bank account only, paying your bills, etc. This is handy for temporary situations e.g. when you are away on extended holiday or are in hospital.
Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) – made up of what I call the ‘Power of Wealth’ and ‘Power of Health’, gives someone you trust and appoint, the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf if you lose the mental capacity to do so in the future, or if you no longer want to make decisions for yourself.
- LPA for financial decisions (Power of Wealth): this can be used when you have mental capacity (as with an OPA) or its use can be restricted to if one loses of mental capacity. It can be restricted to specific financial affairs or cover all one’s financial affairs. The Attorney must keep their finances separate from yours and as a measure of control, one coudl request that details of what has been spent and how much you one has, be sent to a solicitor or family member periodically, for oversight.
- LPA for health and care decisions (Power of Health) – this covers decisions about your health and care decisions e.g. moving into a care home, life-sustaining treatment, your medical care, who you should have contact with, etc. It can only be used if one loses mental capacity.
An LPA must be registered with Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used.
Without and LPA in place, if a person loses the ability to make decision for themselves, they will need to apply to the Court of Protection, who will decide whether you are fit to make the decision, can make decisions about your health and care and finances or appoint a deputy to make decisions on the persons behalf.
IMPORTANT: Married couples and those in a civil partnership should note that decision making does not automatically transfer to your spouse or partner, so best to look into putting an LPA in place if you would prefer for decisions about you be made by them or other trusted person.
More information about LPA can be found here
It is important that we plan as much as we can and then leave the rest to God, the universe or wherever your faith lies.
As usual, this does not constitute financial advise so do your own research to determine whether this is appropriate for you.
Leave a comment below and share.
📝 Originally shared under my first blog, bitalks; part of the journey that shaped Life’s Riches.