Many clients visit us to make a Will, we always provide information on an Enduring Power of Attorney also. An Enduring Power of Attorney is a document which we can put in place when well appointing one or more persons to act on our behalf as Attorneys in the event of a future mental incapacity.
Peace of Mind
We do lots of work with the Alzheimers Society and typically where we might see an EPA come into play is for somebody who perhaps has dementia.
So eg Fiona has dementia and is no longer able to make decisions for herself and does not have legal capacity to sign papers etc. Fiona may some years ago have made an EPA appoining her husband Frank and son Frank Jnr to act a her attorneys. Frank and Frank Jnr can then arrange to have the EPA registered and on foot of the Certificate of Registration they can access Fionas pension and accounts to eg pay for home help to assist Fiona to live comfortably and safely at home.
How can I make an Enduring Power of Attorney?
As always, please contact us, we will have an initial chat, ensure we are a good fit.
We will send you our Welcome Pack which will include a note of the inforamtion needed to create your EPA
We will meet, arrange to have all completeed. There will be follow on forms for you the client to organise, eg Form completed by your gp, Form completed by other Attorney.
All forms are returned and we will complete your EPA
As always, we will send our Thank you Pack
Are there any alternatives to having an Enduring Power of Attorney?
If you have a credit union account, there may be options for you as regards releasing some of the proceeds of this account. Please contact us or your local credit union to discuss this further.
It can be useful to set up a joint account with another, so that in the event of future mental incapacity the other could access the account. Remember if another is added to an account he or she may be able to access the account at any stage, not only in the event of future mental incapacity. You should absolutely trust the other person. You should be really careful as regards your intention for this account. If you pass away do you wish for the proceeds of this account to go to the other person or should the proceeds form part of your estate? When opening the account should make this very clear and also when attending to your Will you should provide details in relation to this.
If a nursing home loan is of relevance, there is provision whereby a ‘care representative’ can be appointed.
Ward of Court. We are setting out information in relation to wardship here but we are not suggesting it as on an alternative to an enduring power of attorney. The Wards of Court Office and the High Court do a fantastic job in administering wardship. It is however a lengthy, complex and expensive process and the legislation behind same is archaic. Please see our section on the Capacity Act of 2015
