Essex & Suffolk Wills Ltd, Habendum House, 1-2 High Street, Colchester, Essex. CO1 1DA
Tel: 01206 615254 Email: info@essexandsuffolkwills.co.uk
Last updated: 28th October, 2022
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Registered in England and Wales Company No: 06740848
YOUR liberty and life’s assets could be in grave danger without Lasting Powers of Attorney!
Losing mental capacity puts you in the most vulnerable position. If your mental capacity goes you are not legally entitled to make decisions for yourself. Your liberty and your life’s assets are in grave danger. If you thought that your ‘next of kin’ will automatically have the power to make decisions on your behalf, this is not so. Not even your spouse after 30 years of marriage.
Bank accounts frozen
If you lose mental capacity and there are no Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA’s) in place, your bank accounts will be frozen. If you have a joint account with your spouse/partner – that account will also be frozen and your spouse will have to apply to the Court of Protection for the funds from it. This could take up to 6 months possibly causing severe financial hardship in this time.
Legal costs to apply to the Court
Legal fees to appoint a guardian by the Court of Protection is often in excess of £2,000 plus VAT.
Court of Protection decides who makes your decisions
If there are no LPA’s in place, you and your loved ones have no control over who makes your decisions. The Court of Protection will appoint a Deputy. An application by a loved one could be rejected for various reasons when doing the background checks. The Court can decide to appoint a complete stranger - the local authority or a Care Home. Families feel pushed out in these cases.
Court of Protection will charge your estate for supervising
The Court of Protection will supervise the Deputy they appoint and will charge your estate accordingly. Sometimes tight restrictions are put upon the Deputy – more money is charged for a higher level of supervision. If a local authority is appointed to be Deputy they will charge an additional fee too.
Loss to wealth
Apart from Court of Protection fees, your estate could suffer other losses if you do not have someone who is looking after your best financial interests. For example: If you are in a Care home they could insist that your property is sold to pay for your fees. If you were in possession of Lasting Powers of Attorney, your attorneys would have the power to rent out the property and let the income pay the fees. They could make other investments to gain an income for you. Your attorneys could also apply for Care grants on your behalf.
In 2014, an Essex local authority was appointed as a Deputy for an elderly gentleman resident against his family’s wishes. They auctioned off the gentleman’s artwork family heirlooms to pay for Care fees and later sold his house at a knock-down price. The family were legally gagged so they could not talk about it to the Press. Decisions at the Court of Protection are made in secret.
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Loss of liberty
Many elderly people who live on their own are taken into a Care Home against their wishes and the wishes of their family. This could be for various reasons. It could be that a Social Worker errs on-the-side of caution when deciding if they have the mental capacity to be living alone. If you are diagnosed not to have mental capacity you have no power to fight this decision. If relatives attempt to take their loved ones out of Care they can be faced with court proceedings. In 2013, Wanda Maddocks was given a prison sentence of five months for Contempt of Court when she tried to remove her 80 year old father from the care of Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Unable to make your own medical decisions
Being unable to make your own medical decisions leaves you in a vulnerable position, especially if a loved one does not have Lasting Powers of Attorney to enforce decisions. In the past, there have been accusations that elderly people have placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway for reasons other than the patient’s best interest and done without the permission of the patient’s family. When you make a Lasting Power of Attorney you can state medical preferences and the people you would like to make your medical decisions on your behalf so there can be no misunderstandings.
There is an easy solution to these problems - MAKE Lasting Powers of Attorney. The ideal situation is to make and register your LPA’s straight away so that they are ready to use should you need them.
We offer our LPA’s at less than half price compared to others in the area. Call for more details.