POWERS OF ATTORNEY
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document which allows you to appoint people you trust as your Attorneys. It allows your Attorneys to make decisions in relation to your affairs as if you were making the decision yourself. The document would come into effect when you lose mental capacity or, you no longer wish to make decisions yourself.
There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney:
(i) Property and Affairs, dealing with your money and any other property that you may own including shares and investments.
(ii) Health and Welfare, dealing with decisions about your wellbeing, for example if you are in hospital and a decision needs to be made about your medical treatment.
Fees
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Single Power of Attorney | £540 including VAT + £82 court fee |
| A pair of Powers of Attorney | £810 including VAT + £164 court fee |
| All four Powers of Attorney | £1,350 including VAT + £328 court fee |
The Lasting Power of Attorney can only be made when the ‘donor’ (the person making the Lasting Power of Attorney) has capacity to give instructions and retain advice given. A solicitor will assess the donor’s capacity during the appointment.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is the most cost-effective way of protecting your affairs in the future as you will never know if, or when you may lose capacity. It also ensures that you have chosen people you trust to act on your behalf and, ensures decisions would not be made by anyone else.
Should you not have a Lasting Power of Attorney, and you lose capacity, your relatives would not have any power to make any decisions for you. The only option they would have would be to make an application to the Court of Protection which is expensive and can take up to a year to come into effect.
A properly drafted Will ensures that your property and belongings pass to those people who you want to benefit after you have gone. We can often save your loved ones a lot of tax.
If you die without making a Will, the law will decide who gets what and how much. It is also important to note that the following rules will apply if you do not make a Will:
• Your partner is not legally entitled to anything when you die if you are not married or in a civil partnership.
• If you have children, the amount they are entitled to will depend on the value of the deceased’s estate.
• Your children may not be looked after as you would have wished
• Any inheritance tax that may be due could be higher than if you had made a Will.
• If you die with no living relatives, your whole estate will be inherited by the Crown.
For further details and pricing information on Wills, click here.
If you are considering making a Powers of Attorney or writing a Will and would like to find out more before committing then please request a callback by filling in the form here.