The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
AskThe Experts
Q
There has been a lot of media coverage lately about Lasting Powers of Attorney and the risks involved in having one and I am wondering
A whether it is safe to create one?
You are right that there has been a lot of coverage concerning Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) lately, some of it stemming from a radio interview in August with Denzil Lush, who was the senior judge in the UK Court of Protection (COP) until July 2016.
During the programme he said that people should be made far more aware of the risks involved in creating Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and that he would never sign one himself. There was some more media coverage on Thursday 30th of November on the programme, ITV Tonight where the options to safeguard your LPA were discussed, including taking specialist legal advice on the preparation and terms of your LPA.
An LPA is a powerful legal document allowing you to choose the people you want to make decisions on your behalf when you lack the mental capacity to make those decisions. If you become incapable without making a LPA an application has to be made to the COP for someone to fulfil that role. The person appointed is called the Deputy. Whilst a Deputy is supervised by the COP the system is far more expensive and time consuming than completing an LPA. Provided that caution is exercised and safeguards considered when appointing an Attorney I consider that on balance, the LPA is certainly the preferable route. However I would recommend that legal advice is sought from a solicitor who can advise to ensure that a well drafted LPA is created.