LPA

5 Top Reasons to use a Solicitor to prepare your Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

Preparing an LPA yourself and getting it wrong can be very costly.

Getting your Lasting Power of Attorney wrong can be time consuming and costly. Here, we look at 5 top reasons for why you should consider using an expert LPA solicitor to do the leg work for you.

1) Who can act as my Certificate Provider

So, in no particular order, here comes the first reason why you should consider using an expert LPA solicitor to prepare your LPA.

Whether you are choosing to complete a Health & Welfare LPA or a Property & Affairs LPA (or both), you will need a certificate provider. This is the person who certifies to the Office of the Public Guardian that you are of sound mine.

You can not use any relative of either the donor or attorney to act as certificate provider. You can ask friends or colleagues who have known you for 2 years or more. But, do they know what they are doing, and moreover do you want them knowing your business.

2) Does my LPA Solicitor have a duty of confidentiality?

So, question 2 to ask yourself. Even if you can find a certificate provider, do you want friends or colleagues knowing your business? Your solicitor as an absolute duty of confidentiality which our regulator sees as so important (quite right too) that breaching that will result in us losing our jobs – and be struck off!

3) What if I get my LPA wrong – will it cost more at Registration?

Although it comes in at number 3 – these top reasons come in no order – and/but this is a very significant reason to choose a solicitor to prepare your LPA! Registration of your LPA at the Office of the Public Guardian will cost you £82 per person per appointment. So, a married couple registering both Health & Welfare LPA plus Property & Affairs LPA they will have registration fees of £82 x 4, or £328! Draft the LPA’s yourself and get it wrong and you may be forced to start again from scratch, and a further cost of £328! Even minor corrects are charged by the OPG at a further fee of £41 per form per person. And, it is likely to delay the completion of your LPA’s be many weeks.

4) How long does it take to Prepare and Register an LPA?

Yes, the forms are available on the Government website to complete your LPA either online, or alternatively download a paper copy to complete. But, be in no doubt, there is a lot to complete! The right solicitor will be dealing with the preparation and administration of LPA’s day in day out. They will have all of the right systems, all of the right knowledge, and will be being paid to do a job.

Let your solicitor take the strain and prepare your LPA!

5) Are LPA Solicitors Regulated?

Yes, and we’re expert at what we do – just as everyone is at their own job. For the relatively modest cost a solicitor will charge to prepare your LPA, you will have the peace of mind of knowing it is being done quickly, properly, and at no extra cost to you if things go wrong (not that they should).

We are (quite rightly) very tightly regulated – and answerable to our customers, the SRA, and the Legal Ombudsmen. Using a solicitor gives you peace of mind.

Can I prepare an LPA with a solicitor from home?

You certainly can with us! We’ve been at the cutting edge of technology for a very long time, and were one of the first law firms to digitise our internal office records when we went fully paperless back in 2008! If you would like us to help with the preparation of our LPA’s from the comfort of your own home, everything can be done by Zoom video call, phone, and email. Don’t worry, any paper you need to sign will still come out to you by good old fashioned snail mail!

Find a solicitor to Prepare your Lasting Power of Attorney?

But, don’t let us be the judge of all of that! Contact us if you have any questions about preparing or registering an LPA, and one of our expert LPA solicitors will be happy to chat things through with you. Please contact us at the details below.