We recommend that everybody familiarises themselves with their options for granting a Lasting Power of Attorney.
If you are over 18 and you have capacity then you can grant a lasting Power of Attorney over your Property & Affairs and, separately, your Health & Welfare.
Pre-planning of this nature can mean your affairs are managed quickly and efficiently should you become unable to make decisions in the future due to injury or illness.
Power of attorney arrangements allow donors' affairs to be looked after by someone else if they ever lose mental capacity. To set up a lasting power of attorney agreement, the “donor” (the person whose affairs are at stake) needs to fill in a set of forms from the Office of the Public Guardian. This has to be done when the donor still has mental capacity. Anyone can be an attorney, as long as they’re over 18 and have capacity themselves.
