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A Lasting Power of Attorney - giving you peace of mind for the future.
Everybody wants to live long, but none of us want to get old. Lots of people make a Will, to provide for their friends and family after their days, but what about your own health and wellbeing when you are still around? Who will look after you?
It is very important that we all plan for the future to ensure that we are looked after if we lose the ability to look after ourselves. What about if you do lose the ability to make those decisions yourself, such as through illness, an accident or simple old age?
A Lasting Power of Attorney can safeguard against you being in a position in the future where you cannot make important decisions. By putting a Lasting Power of Attorney in place when you are capable to do so, you will appoint someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf. You can choose what decisions that person can make on your behalf should the time come – such as paying bills for you and looking after your money, or decisions regarding your medical care. There are typically two types of Lasting Power of Attorney that can cover those two instances.
If you do not put a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, and you become mentally unable to deal with your affairs, you may find yourself in a difficult position – bills mounting, letters piling up on the mat. The Court of Protection has to become involved to appoint a ‘Deputy’ to look after your affairs and this can be very costly and time consuming, and may even result in the Local Authority being appointed.
This can be avoided. You can safeguard your future by putting in place a Lasting Power of Attorney now to appoint someone you really trust and can rely upon to look after your affairs when you become unable to do so. This can either be done to become effective immediately or can be set to be activated at a defined point in the future. We have a specialist department who can provide you with all the advice you need to safeguard your future – so get in contact sooner rather than later.
Contact our expert Life Planning team on 01443 755189 or email lifeplanning@devonalds.co.uk.