Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document in which a person (the Donor) can appoint another (the Attorney) to act on his or her behalf.

The document can be drawn up at anytime as long as the Donor has the requisite mental capacity to understand the nature and effects of the document.

The LPA will only ever be effective once it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

There are two different types of LPA

1. Property and Affairs LPA
2. Personal Welfare LPA

A person may make one or both types of LPA, it is not mandatory that a person makes both types.

1. Property and Affairs LPA will enable an Attorney to make decisions and manage the finances and property of the Donor.  The document will only ever be effective once it is registered with the OPG but an Attorney can then act in his or her capacity regardless of whether the Donor has lost the ability to act himself.
2. A Personal Welfare LPA will enable the Attorney to make decisions regarding the overall welfare of the Donor which will include healthcare, living arrangements and refusal/acceptance of medical treatment.  Again the LPA is only effective once registered with the OPG but unlike the first mentioned LPA the Attorney can only ever act in his or her capacity when the Donor has lost the ability to make the decisions for himself.

A Donor can choose more than one Attorney to act and the appointment can be made jointly, that is the chosen persons must act together or not at all, or jointly and severally where they can act together or separately. 

An Attorney appointed under a Property and Affairs LPA will have no authority to make decisions regarding the Donors personal welfare unless a separate LPA has been made to cover this and visa versa. This continues to be the case even where the Attorneys under the two different types of LPA are the same person. 

Where a person lacks the requisite mental capacity to make an LPA then an interested person may apply to the OPG for the appointment as a Deputy.  A Deputyship enables the person appointed to make decisions on behalf of the incapacitated person.  The Deputy will receive very specific directions from the OPG as to how he or she can act in their role as Deputy.