Comment Magazine Issue 5

Managing personal
affairs in old age
What happens to your affairs when you can no
longer can make decisions on your own?
Would you be happy with a total stranger controlling your finances?
That is what could happen in the event you are not prepared,
warns Roz Wyeth.
There are, according to the Alzheimer’s
Society, some 850,000 people in the
UK who today suffer from dementia.
That number is expected to increase
to nearly 1.5 million over the next nine
years, and hit over two million by 2051.
It is a sad fact of life that many of us will
lose mental capacity as we grow older.
For many, dementia can creep up
unnoticed, and once the disease has
taken hold it is too late to put provisions
for the management of your personal
and financial affairs in place. It is,
therefore, vital to be proactive when
considering who you would trust to deal
with your affairs in the event that you no
longer can.
Making a Lasting Power of Attorney
allows you to choose who you would
like to manage your affairs in the future.
If you do not have such arrangements
in place and you were to lose the ability
to manage your affairs, the only option
is for an application to be made to the
Court of Protection for a Deputyship
Order. This can be expensive and
carries an ongoing requirement for
annual reporting and payment of the
associated court fees for the privilege.
In addition, the Court may not approve
an application by, say, a family member,
deeming it more appropriate for the local
council to be appointed as your deputy.
This is particularly likely if they have any
doubts about the suitability of the person
making the application or where there is
sibling rivalry or a family dispute.
If you suddenly find you need
assistance and have not made a Lasting
Power of Attorney, this can cause a great
deal of stress and worry for friends and
families who are left in the unhappy
position of financing your care and
paying your bills from their own funds
until an order is put in place to allow
access to your own.
Making a Lasting Power of Attorney
now does not preclude you from dealing
with your own affairs. A Lasting Power
of Attorney can be used as soon as it is
registered by the Court, or its use can be
limited to a time when you no longer feel
that you can manage your own affairs
– for example, if you become physically
unwell and need assistance or simply
get to the stage where you would rather
someone else dealt with the hassle of
finances.
It is also possible to restrict its use
further, by simply holding on to the
documents, or asking your law firm to
look after them. Coffin Mew can, for
example, store the registered document
safely and only release appropriate copies
of it on receipt of express instructions from
you or, alternatively, written proof of your
mental incapacity from a qualified doctor.
Unless you expressly give your
authority in advance, your attorneys do
not have any right to view your Will and
will never have any right to amend your
Will. The two documents are entirely
separate. Lasting Powers deal with
your affairs during your lifetime and
on your death the power you gave
to your attorneys dies with you,
and your Will and your appointed
executors take over.
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