A Power of Attorney is a written document signed by you in which you appoint someone you choose (called the Attorney) to deal with your affairs generally or to deal with a specific piece of business. For example if you were going to live abroad for a while you could appoint a spouse or family member or anyone else to take care of your affairs during your absence.

 

A simple, unregistered Power of Attorney is limited in its application and ceases to be valid if you become mentally incapable by reason of accident or illness such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease. There is a more comprehensive Power of Attorney in Scotland which continues to be valid even although you lose mental capacity hence its name, a Continuing Power of Attorney.

A Continuing Power of Attorney is not only for the elderly. It is something that all adults should consider putting in place in case they should lose mental or physical capacity for whatever reason. It will allow and require your Attorney to deal with your financial affairs for your benefit and to act in your best interests.

A Welfare Power of Attorney operates similarly. If you have a Welfare Power of Attorney your Attorney or Attorneys (there can be more than one person appointed to deal with your affairs) has authority to make decisions about your personal welfare should you lose mental capacity to make those decisions for yourself.

 

The two types can be separate but are normally combined into a single document - a Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney which is more commonly known simply as a Continuing Power of Attorney.

​

When you are in good health and are perfectly capable of dealing with your own affairs, the prospect of making a Continuing Power of Attorney is possibly not at the forefront of most people's minds. However, consider the possibility that due to illness or accident you were unable to deal with your own affairs.

In this day and age of ever increasing bureaucracy and data protection, Banks, Building Societies, Government agencies, Care Homes and others are simply unable to allow someone else to deal with and manage your affairs without a Continuing Power of Attorney being in place.

​

If a Continuing or Welfare Power of Attorney is not in place and you lose mental capacity to be able to deal with your affairs or decisions needing to be taken about your welfare, a Guardianship Order or an Intervention Order must be applied for through the courts. The procedure through the courts is both costly and lengthy involving obtaining Medical Reports and ultimately costing several thousand of pounds whereas the Continuing Power of Attorney will cost a fraction of that but have the same, if not greater effect.

​

You can stipulate in the document that the Continuing Power may only be exercised in the event that you ever lose capacity. If you do not stipulate that or a date or other event then your Attorney can act concurrently with you. If you are then dissatisfied with your Attorney's actions you can revoke the appointment but of course this can only be done while you still understand and have mental capacity to do so. The Welfare Power however can only be exercised once you have lost capacity and that is an event you can stipulate be decided by your Attorney or by medical evidence or by whatever other method you consider appropriate .

​

We will prepare the Power of Attorney document after discussion and consultation with you. It is best to consider appointing a main and a substitute Attorney in case the main one is unable to act for any reason, eg. because of their own incapacity.

 

The person(s) you choose as your Attorney(s) must consent to the appointment so you will need to ask them first. Once you have signed the document we will obtain the signed consent of the person you have nominated to be your Attorney. Thereafter the documents are forwarded to the Office of the Public Guardian with payment of a registration fee. The documents are then registered and a Certificate of Registration issued. It is then that the document becomes valid and binding subject to your right to revoke it should you choose to do so.