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Q. What is a lasting power of attorney?
A. The main document that encompasses all needs during your lifetime is a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) It is a legal document that gives one, or more, of your trusted family or friends (Attorneys) permission to make decisions on your behalf concerning your health and financial affairs. An LPA for financial decisions can be used both whilst mental capacity is held, and can continue once it is lost.
Q. Is a lasting power of attorney necessary?
A. If you lose mental capacity, and an LPA has not been set up, then loved ones will be required to apply through Legal channels to become a ‘deputy’, a long and expensive process. You can only set up a Lasting Power of Attorney when you have mental capacity. It is similar in a way to an insurance policy. It goes in the draw at home and you hope it is never required but if you lose the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself through an accident, stroke, dementia etc you then realise how important the decision to make your LPAs years earlier was.
Q. Can it be changed?
A. The person who the power of attorney is for (known as the donor), has the authority to revoke it at any time, as long as they are still mentally competent and able to communicate.
Q. What power does it give you?
A. The power that a named person has is dependent on whether it is a lasting power of attorney for “Health and Welfare” or “Property and Financial Affairs”. At the time of completing the LPA form, this can be further explained to you. The power that you have will always be in the best interest of the person who you are making the decisions on behalf of.
Q. Does a spouse automatically have medical power of attorney?
A. If you are legally married, your spouse is already designated by law to speak on your behalf if you become incapacitated. In all other cases, you should choose someone to designate as your Health Care Power of Attorney.
Q. What does it mean to lose mental capacity?
A. Mental capacity means the ability to make or communicate specific decisions at the time they need to be made. To have mental capacity you must understand the decision you need to make, why you need to make it, and the likely outcome of your decision.
Some people will be able to make decisions about some things but not others. For example, they may be able to decide what to buy for dinner, but be unable to understand and arrange their home insurance. Alternatively, their ability to make decisions may change from day to day.
Needing more time to understand or communicate does not mean you lack mental capacity. For example, having dementia does not necessarily mean that someone is unable to make any decisions for themselves. Where someone is having difficulty communicating a decision, an attempt should always be made to overcome those difficulties and help the person decide for themselves.
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