Last month, when I wrote an introductory piece about my services for Almost Essential’s blog, I mentioned Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) in passing, highlighting the often exorbitant fees which solicitors charge for what is essentially a relatively simple exercise.

An LPA is a legal document, but it does not need to be drawn up by a solicitor, unless you have unusual or specific requirements. It allows you (the ‘donor’) to choose trusted people (‘attorneys’) to make decisions on your behalf, and is mainly used if you don’t have the mental capacity to understand and make decisions yourself.

There are two types of LPA: an LPA for making money, finances and property decisions and an LPA for making health and care decisions. If you lose mental capacity and do not have an LPA for financial decisions in place, your family or friends will not be able to make decisions on your behalf regarding your finances. By the same token, if you lose mental capacity and you don’t have an LPA for health and care decisions in place, any decisions about your healthcare will be made by doctors who will make a decision based on your best interests. They will consult your family, but the final decision will rest with medical staff.

The reason for re-visiting this subject now is because from 1^st April, the Government reduced the registration fees from £110 to £82, in an attempt to “encourage more people to take this important step and plan for the future.”

According to my estimation, people may have spent in excess of £1 billion on “unnecessary” legal fees by having LPAs drawn up by solicitors. However, in addition to your being able to access a wide range of other services, I may be able to assist you with drawing up and registering LPAs as part of the overall service, thereby saving you a considerable amount of money if you are thinking of using a solicitor for this purpose.

I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me via the Almost Essential website if you would like to discuss any aspect of my services, the unique attraction of which is that the modest fee is capped and will always be exceeded by the savings which you make as a result of using the service.

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