Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney

At Will Power we can advise you on the LPA process from start to finish, including registration at the Office of the Public Guardian. Our consultants or our LPA expert in the office would take down instructions and discuss with you who should be the attorneys.

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Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney

Most people make no provision for their families to make life and death decisions on their behalf if they become mentally incapable, so these decisions are often left entirely to doctors, social workers or the Local Authority.

The solution. Drawing up a legal document called a Lasting Power of Attorney to authorise your chosen family members to make the final decisions about your health and welfare.

Speak To an Expert
At Will Power we can advise you on the LPA process from start to finish, including registration at the Office of the Public Guardian. Our consultants or our LPA expert in the office would take down instructions and discuss with you who should be the attorneys.

Benefits

You choose who gets to make these decisions on your behalf, not the doctors or social workers

You act in good time before it’s too late, and so avoid the considerable cost of drawing up these documents once capacity has been lost.

Download the Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney Information Sheet.

Don’t Forget

Your LPAs can be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian to be ready for use.

  • You should register your LPA while you still have mental capacity.
  • Your LPAs cannot be used during the registration process which typically takes about 9 weeks, so act now!
  • If you lose mental capacity but signed the LPA while you still had capacity, your attorneys can register your LPAs for you.
  • There is a government set fee to register your LPA.

We will advise you of the LPA process from start to finish.

Frequently Asked LPA Questions

A “lasting power of attorney” is a legal document in which you appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf. The person so appointed is referred to as an “attorney”.

There are two types of lasting power of attorney, a “health and welfare lasting power of attorney” and a “property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney”. In the case of a health and welfare lasting power of attorney, the attorney is granted the power to make decisions about your health and welfare.

The sort of decisions an attorney can make will depend upon what powers they have been given in the health and welfare lasting power of attorney. An attorney may be given the power to make decisions in relation to any or all of the following matters:

  • What medical treatment you should have or not have.
  • Whether you should continue to live in your own home or move into a residential care home.
  • What type of health care you should receive.
  • What diet you should have.
  • How you should be dressed; and
  • What your daily routine should consist of.

Any decisions made by an attorney should be made in the best interests of the “donor” (the person who made the lasting power of attorney).

A health and welfare lasting power of attorney does not give your attorney the power to make decisions relating to your property and financial affairs. If you would like your attorney or another person to take responsibility for your property and financial affairs a property and financial affairs Lasting Power of Attorney will be needed.

A person must have the “mental capacity” to make a health and welfare lasting power of attorney for it to be valid. They must also be at least 18 years old. 

For a person to have the required mental capacity they must be able to understand and remember information for long enough and be able to weigh up information to enable them to decide. They must also be able to communicate in some manner.

A health and welfare lasting power of attorney cannot be used until it has been registered with the “Office of the Public Guardian” and until you have lost the mental capacity to make your own decisions.