Setting up your Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

Welcome to the Hugh James LPA Service instruction form.

Within this instruction form you will be asked to provide details relating to your personal information and the type of LPA you wish to create.

Please note it is only mandatory to complete your personal details before submitting this form.

Please provide as much information as you can within this form, however if there is anything you are unsure of, we can discuss during your initial LPA instruction telephone appointment.

Please remember to submit your form. Your progress is not saved and your information will be lost if you do not submit the form.

Please click on the ‘Begin’ button to complete the form.

Please note that if you are part of a couple who would both like to create LPAs with different terms, two individual LPAs should be created rather than mirror LPAs. Mirror LPAs are two LPAs which mirror the terms of the other one.

You can withdraw your consent at any time up until you enter into the firm’s terms and conditions of business.

If you proceed with the LPA service, your personal information will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Please complete details for second person included within Mirror LPA.

Personal circumstances

Please answer the following questions to help us to determine which of our service options are suitable to your needs.

If you indicate that you will require assistance with the LPA instruction form due to sight, language or other issues, we will contact you to discuss your needs when you instruct us.

Where appropriate, the service can be tailored to include, using larger print and reading over your LPA with you.

As the LPA service is a remote service, the service may not be suitable for your circumstances, we will discuss this with you.

LPA required

An LPA only takes effect once it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

It can be registered whenever you choose, but if it is registered immediately after it has been completed, it is simply stored safely and only put into use once it is needed.

Registration itself does not mean that you have lost capacity. You will carry on making decisions in the usual way until you lose mental capacity.

It is important to note that a Health and Care decisions LPA can only be used once mental capacity has been lost.

A Property and Financial decisions LPA can be used as soon as it has been registered. If you do not wish for the Property and Financial decisions LPA to be used whilst you have mental capacity, you can select this option within the LPA. Your attorneys will then need to obtain a certificate to confirm capacity has been lost before the LPA can be used.

Type of LPA	LPA preparation fees	Registration fee payable to the OPG	Total fee
Single health and welfare OR property and financial affairs (drafting and registration)	£780.00	£82.00	£862.00
Mirror single health and welfare AND property and financial affairs (drafting and registration)	£900.00	£164.00	£1,064.00
Double health and welfare OR property and financial affairs (drafting and registration)	£900.00	£164.00	£1,064.00
Mirror double health and welfare AND property and financial affairs (drafting and registration)	£1,020.00	£328.00	£1,384.00

If a Deed of Revocation is required for an existing Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)/Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) this will be charged at £150 plus VAT.

Your LPA

Please answer the following questions.

Attorney

You must have at least one attorney. There is no upper limit, but you should consider how the attorneys will work together.

Make sure that each person agrees to be your attorney before you name them in your LPA. Your attorney can later object to their appointment which may prevent the LPA from being registered.

Who can be an attorney?

You can ask anyone with mental capacity aged 18 or over to be your attorney.

This can include:

• your wife, husband, civil partner, or partner
• a family member
• a close friend
• a professional advisor.

If an attorney is not a professional, the important thing is that you know each other well and that they are someone who will act in your best interests.

Who cannot be an attorney?

A person aged under 18 cannot be an attorney.

A person who is currently bankrupt or has a debt relief order cannot be an attorney on an LPA for property and financial decisions.

Bankruptcy and debt relief orders do not affect health and care decisions LPA.

A person who is on the Disclosure and Barring Service’s barred list cannot act as an attorney – unless they’re a family member and they’re not getting a fee to be your attorney. They will break the law if they don’t follow these rules.

Jointly and severally (attorneys act either together or individually) – Your attorneys can make decisions on your behalf, on their own, or together.

Jointly (attorneys must agree on every decision) – Your attorneys must always make all decisions together. They must all be in agreement and they must all sign any relevant documents.

Jointly for some decisions, and jointly and severally for other decisions – Your attorneys must make certain decisions together and all agree on them – but they can make other decisions individually.

The person being notified can raise any concerns they have about the LPA. This could include concerns regarding pressure or fraud in making the LPA. You should not include your Attorney(s) or Replacement Attorney(s). Family members will also not automatically be notified unless you have included them as someone to be notified.

Instructions and preferences

When considering ‘Preferences’ (advice to your Attorney(s)) you should use words such as ‘prefer’ and ‘would like’.

When considering ‘Instructions’ (when your Attorney(s) must do something) you should use words such as ‘must’, ‘shall’ and ‘have to’.

The following are examples of ‘Preferences’ provided by the OPG:

Health and welfare LPA

• I prefer to live within five miles of my sister.
• I would like to take exercise at least three times a week whenever I am physically able to do so. Whether or not I am mobile, I would like to spend time outdoors at least once a day.
• I’d like my pets to live with me for as long as possible – if I go into a care home, I’d like to take them with me.
• I’d like to have regular haircuts, manicures, and pedicures.

Property and financial affairs LPA

• I like to reinvest all interest from each year’s investments into next year’s ISA allowance.
• I would like to maintain a minimum balance of £1,000 in my current account.
• I prefer to invest in ethical funds.
• I’d like my attorneys to consult my doctor if they think I don’t have the mental capacity to make decisions about my house.
• I would like to donate £100 each year to ‘name of charity’.

The following are examples of ‘Instructions’ provided by the OPG:

Health and welfare LPA

• My attorneys must not decide I am to move into residential care unless, in my doctor’s opinion, I can no longer live independently.
• My attorneys must not consent to any medical treatment involving blood products, as this is against my religion.
• My attorneys must ensure I am given only vegetarian food.

Property and financial affairs LPA

• My attorneys must consult a financial adviser before making investments over £10,000.
• My attorneys must not sell my home unless, in my doctor’s opinion, I can no longer live independently.
• My attorneys must not make any gifts.
• My attorneys must send annual accounts to my brothers and sisters.
• My attorneys must instruct a tax accountant to prepare my annual tax return.

‘My attorneys may transfer my investments into a discretionary management scheme. Or, if I already had investments in a discretionary management scheme before I lost capacity to make financial decisions, I want the scheme to continue. I understand in both cases that managers of the scheme will make investment decisions, and my investments will be held in their names or the names of their nominees.’

Certificate provider

A certificate provider is an impartial person who confirms that you understand what you’re doing and that nobody is forcing you to make an LPA.

They must confirm that:

• you understand the significance of the LPA
• you have not been put under pressure to make it
• there has been no fraud involved in making the LPA
• there is no other reason for concern

If possible, they should discuss your LPA with you in private, without attorneys or other people present, before they sign to ‘certify’ their part of the LPA.

Your certificate provider can witness your signature and the signature of your attorney(s).

Who can be a certificate provider?

A certificate provider must be at least 18 years old and either:

• a friend, colleague or someone you’ve known well for at least two years – they must be more than just an acquaintance
• your doctor or lawyer or someone with the professional skills to judge whether you understand what you’re doing and are not being forced to make an LPA

People who can’t be a certificate provider

The certificate provider must not be:

• an attorney or replacement attorney for the LPA
• an attorney or replacement attorney in any other LPA or enduring power of attorney that you’ve already made
• a member of your or your attorney’s family– including wives, husbands, civil partners, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, in-laws and step-relatives
• an unmarried partner, boyfriend or girlfriend of yours or of any of your attorneys – whether or not they live at the same address
• your business partner or one of your attorneys’ business partners
• your employee or one of your attorneys’ employees
• an owner, manager, director or employee of a care home where you live, or a member of their family
• anyone running or working for a trust corporation appointed as an attorney in a property and financial decisions LPA

If you are happy with the information provided, please submit this information and a member of the team will be in touch within two working days of receipt of the instruction. We will call within the preferred time slot selected (within office hours).