You must have heard about the enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA at some point and wondered, what are the benefits of an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA?
You might also have wondered why someone would want an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA. Well, if you are unsure of the practical benefits you can get from the enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA, we are going to put things in perspective here.
A Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA is a legal document that allows an individual to appoint another entity to act on their behalf with regards to the management of affairs. The individual who forms the Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA is known as the principal while the other person granted this power is known as attorney-in-fact.
This is just a Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA, but what exactly is the enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA EPA? An EPA is a document that gives authority to another person to make decisions on behalf of the donor in the event of an inability to make decisions.
The enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA has numerous benefits, and here are some of them:
Why should someone want an Enduring POA?
There are many reasons why you need an EPA. You definitely cannot predict every situation, and based on the unpredictability of time and age; this is the best option for you.
At late middle age, there is a higher tendency of many severe illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and dementia; many of which occur out of the blues.
Even if you have an up-to-date will, who would manage any changes that might occur if you become incapacitated?
An EPA helps put things in its right place even when you are incapacitated preventing court battles between families.
Enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA: An Overview
Talking about the EPA, let’s dive into some of the essential details for better understanding. In this section, we would cover some of the basics to help us understand better.
What is the purpose of an enduring POA?
As we all know if the purpose of anything is not known, then abuse is inevitable. When talking about EPA, here are some of the primary reasons:
- Estate management in case of an inability to continue to manage affairs
- Continuity of affairs without any problems amongst family and estate officials
- Up-to-date will management and update when you get incapacitated
How does an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA differ from the lasting Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA?
Most people get confused about whether to sign an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA or lasting Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA because they do not understand much about both documents.
An enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA lets you appoint an attorney of your choice once and for all. In contrast, the lasting Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA allows you to change your attorney if they are incapacitated to work. The enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA responsibilities on the attorney is effortless once you appoint the right person without a need for change.
An EPA helps you organise your affairs with the highest level of simplicity for your will while the LPA gives a lot of complications when it comes to writing a will – we all hate the extra difficulty and paperwork.
Who can get an EPA?
An adult who has an understanding of the nature and effect of the Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA and a person with a cognitive disability are some of the individuals who can get EPA.
When does the EPA take effect?
When the EPA takes effect is also an important factor that helps to put your plans into perspective. There are two types of an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA and we are going to be looking at when each of them is going to take effect.
The welfare Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA takes effect if a medical practitioner confirms that the donor is mentally incapable of managing the estate.
The enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA relating to the property takes effect when the donor is mentally capable and continues when they become mentally incapable. The enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA concerning property starts even before the donor loses mental capacity – you have only seen signs of a possible disease from diagnosis.
The scope of the EPA
The enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA responsibilities on the attorney-in-fact is important in the mental absence of the donor.
This power is not ultimate, but rather controlled, which means that the power can be limited to some parts of the estate without the attorney-in-fact taking control of the estate. There can be more than one attorney employed to work together to make sure that the interest of the donor is prioritised.
Benefits of an Enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA
As we talked about earlier, the EPA is highly beneficial for many reasons, and some of the significant benefits are:
What happens if you don’t have Enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA?
Now for those who choose not to take up the process of acquiring an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA, there are numerous consequences. This is going to affect your assets, your finances and your family. Let us take a look at some of the consequences:
Assets
Gathering assets over the years are as a result of good management and planning. Guiding principles which have helped gather these assets need to be maintained if not your estate tends to fall to the ground within a short time.
If you do not have an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA in the UK, it means that you have not appointed a person who understands and keeps your ethics and good management alive. What would therefore happen is that your assets and estate would be left in just any hands, and it is prone to collapse in a short period.
Finances and property affairs
Signing an enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA document is also consequential to your finances because you have a professional who will act on your behalf to make legal and financial decisions.
When this is not in place, family and other employees can make financial decisions for you, which most of the time is not the best option for you and your estate.
Your spouse and children
Even with an up-to-date Will, you still would need someone who would help you make the necessary changes to your will. If you become sick and lose your mental capacity, to make the necessary changes and when this happens, you put your family in a position where they have to go through a lot of court wars to get what you truly wanted to will to them – this is when you’re gone. Some of the time, they might get something, while in other cases, they might not, but you do not want to leave your family hanging in the balance.
Conclusion
Looking at what we have covered so far in this article; it is evident that the EPA is vital to the state of affairs of your estate and your legacy. You need to make sure you sign the enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA document because it would determine how things would go when you lose your mental capacity to continue due to a disease or even your absence.
In the later sections, we also outlined the consequences of not having the EPA on your estate, finances, and even family, all of which could have easily been prevented. This is a document that is not difficult to process and once you get it done, it would eventually save you a lot of stress over time.
My Estate Planning understands the importance of keeping things going as they ought to, especially when you get to the state of mind where you cannot keep things going as you used to.
To inquire and get a My Estate Planning‘s enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA contact us or book a free consultation on 02045165969.
Our enduring Lasting Power of Attorney/LPA is designed to fix many of the problems that have been faced by many estate owners over the years.
This means that taking this bold step would not only mean that you do not face the challenges other estate owners have faced, it also means that you have all the basics covered in case of the untimely.
