Can I make a Lasting Power of Attorney Online?

In a time where it is possible to deal with most things online, from ordering a pizza, booking a holiday even to dealing with certain legal matters. Whilst this may seem to be a practical way to deal with your important legal matters, you should be aware, that like with most things, they often are not as straight forward as they may first seem.

Lasting Powers of Attorney are essential documents for all adults no matter how old or healthy. They allow us to appoint someone to act in our place legally, in order to deal with our affairs, if we are unable to (or do not want to) do so ourselves. This may relate to Property and Finances or Health and Care.

In recent years, there has been a huge push to try to make Lasting Powers of Attorney accessible and to encourage everyone to have one. Something that is welcomed by all legal professionals who have seen the alternative and the difficult position that families can be in where a Lasting Power of Attorney have not been made. They are extremely powerful but also complicated documents.

Yes, you can make a Lasting Power of Attorney online and yes, it does appear to be quite straight forward at the first instance however, there are certain things that you may not know to consider, without taking legal advice: –

• A Lasting Power of Attorney must be signed in a certain way and in a certain order. If this is not done correctly, the document will not be valid.
• Have you chosen the right Attorneys? It is unfortunately not uncommon for individuals to appoint Attorneys that are not suitable or are not legally able to carry out the duties.
• Which kind of Lasting Power of Attorney do you need and do you need an additional document to deal with your business?
• What if you choose to appoint a close family member and not another. If you make your LPA via a legal advisor, you will receive additional securities that the document cannot be questioned by a begrudged family member at a later date.
• Do you have any special wishes? – LPAs have a section specifically for your wishes and instructions. This may seem straight forward but unfortunately, it is all to easy to include instructions that can conflict with each other or can be impossible to carry out, leaving your Attorneys in a very tricky situation.
• In addition to special wishes, additional clauses are often required to allow Attorneys to do what they need to do, for example to invest funds on your behalf. Failing to include such clauses can really limit your Lasting Power of Attorney and cause great difficulty for your chosen individuals.

Pepperells have an experienced Private Client team who can advise, prepare and register your Lasting Powers of Attorney for you and give you the piece of mind that they will do what you need them to do, should the time come that they are ever required. Please get in touch if you would like to make an appointment to speak to a member of the team.