As you grow older, who will manage your property and financial affairs if you were to become ill or had to go into hospital or a nursing home?  It is perfectly natural to be concerned and the solution is to appoint one or more trusted friends or, more likely, relatives to assume that responsibility, to give you the peace of mind your affairs will be managed correctly and by someone you have chosen yourself.

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more individuals to manage your affairs on your behalf.  Granting a Lasting Power of Attorney means you can rest assured your affairs will definitely be kept in order, as you would want, even if you were to become physically or mentally incapable of undertaking that responsibility for yourself.

We understand it is not a nice thing to have to think about but it needs to be stressed that a Lasting Power of Attorney cannot be granted after you become incapacitated, rather an expensive and time consuming Court application might be required to deal with your affairs and there will be a hiatus whilst this is determined.

Therefore this is something we would urge you to think about now, whilst you have full capacity, and we are happy to talk you through the options and the process to give you reassurance and help you make the decision that is right for you.

A separate Lasting Power of Attorney can also be prepared to deal with health and welfare issues, such as wishes about future medical treatment. We can advise about these and the alternatives, such as “Living Wills”

If you would like to find out more about how to or whether to make a Lasting Power of Attorney, please call Robert Keyse on 01491 523941 or email robert.keyse@hedgeslaw.co.uk .