When it comes to the matter of why Lasting Powers of Attorney in Essex are so important, it is to be noted that this is an example of legal document that allows you to give someone else the legal authority to act on your behalf.

Specifically, a Lasting Power of Attorney (previously called an ‘Enduring Power of Attorney’) allows your attorneys to
make decisions for you when you no longer wish to, or when you lack the mental capacity to do so.

When making a Lasting Powers of Attorney in Essex, you are permitting someone to act on your behalf when you are no longer mentally capable of making decisions on your behalf.

There are two different types of Lasting Powers of Attorney:

• Health and welfare
• Property and financial affairs

A property and financial affairs Lasting Power of Attorney allows your attorneys to make decisions regarding your finances, including paying bills, operating your bank accounts or even selling your home.

A health and welfare Lasting Power of Attorney allows your attorneys to make decisions for things, including medical treatment, accepting or refusing types of health care, and whether or not you continue to live in your own home.

You can also give your attorneys the power to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment for you. Moreover, your attorneys can be the same as those appointed under the property and financial affairs Lasting Power of Attorney.

If you decide not to make a Lasting Power of Attorney and subsequently lack the mental capacity to understand the nature and effect of the document, you may no longer be able to create a Lasting Power of Attorney. In those circumstances, if you are no longer mentally capable of dealing with your financial affairs, someone will have to
make an application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as what is called your ‘deputy’. This process applies even if the person incapacitated is your spouse or registered civil partner.

To avoid the Court making decisions on your behalf, it is beneficial to create a Lasting Power of Attorney because it allows you to decide in advance:

(a) The decisions you want to be made on your behalf if you lose the capacity to make them yourself;
(b) The people you want to make these decisions; and
(c) How you want the people to make these decisions

For more information with regard to the completion of Lasting Powers of Attorney in Essex as a means of guarding your wealth against taxation, contact our dedicated Essex-based staff at Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services now via www.andrewdouglaswills.co.uk or on:

01376 348 997

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