LPAs could help protect your future

Add a little legal certainty to your New Year Resolutions part 2

January is the time for making resolutions to give ourselves a fresh start for the New Year.

It’s good to take stock and decide to eat less or exercise more but there’s so much more we could be doing to improve our lives and protect ourselves for the future.

In the first part of our New Year Resolutions series, we talked about the benefits of making a will for 2017 and making sure that your existing wills are up-to-date. In this part, we will be talking about about how a Lasting Power of Attorney could help protect your future and those who depend on you.

Lasting Powers of Attorney could help protect your future

Each year thousands of people create a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) to protect their interests in case their health and their mental capacity should start to deteriorate.

LPAs enable you to nominate someone such as a family member or trusted associate to make decisions on your behalf if you ever lose the ability to do so yourself in the future through illnesses such as dementia.

The property and finance LPA allows you to appoint someone to look after your financial affairs and the personal welfare LPA lets you grant an attorney authority over such matters as health care and the kind of treatment you receive.

There are safeguards to prevent the system being abused so you can prepare for the possibility of ill health secure in the knowledge that you can leave important decisions in the hands of someone you trust.

If you don’t have such arrangements in place then your family may have to go through complicated and time-consuming legal processes just to get the authority to help run your affairs for you. That is the last thing they want at a time when they will already be worried about you and your failing health.

LPAs should be drawn up with the help of a solicitor to ensure that they accurately express your wishes and protect your interests.

No one can be sure what the future will bring them in terms of their health, but LPAs can at least ensure that their interests are protected should the worst happen. If you have any queries about creating a LPA or whether it is right for you, please contact us.