You can have up to four attorneys for a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Each attorney must be over the age of 18 and must be someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf, in accordance with your wishes.
Your attorneys can be family members, friends, or professionals such as solicitors. You can appoint one attorney or several, and you can decide how they will act – either jointly (meaning they must all agree on every decision) or jointly and severally (meaning they can act independently).
It’s important to think carefully about who you appoint as your attorney, as they will have significant responsibility for making decisions about your welfare and finances.
How would you like your attorneys to co-operate?
When you have more than one lawyer working with you on your affairs if capacity is lost, you need to inform each of the attorneys how they ought to work together.
Working jointly together
Each of your listed attorneys must concur on all major decisions. This option can be risky, because attorneys who may not get or give approval might have substantial ramifications for your case and it is conceivable that you might be left without help.
In this circumstance, your attorneys’ power to make decisions will be curtailed if you never pick a replacement for your attorney when he or she dies.
Working jointly or individually
This option is the most popular and ensures your attorneys can make collective or independent decisions. The attorneys each decide independently whether a decision is significant enough to merit seeking input from each of them. If one attorney dies, the remaining attorneys can still make individual decisions.
If lawyers have a disagreement regarding any judgments, they can appeal to the judge in the Court of Protection, a process which is very time consuming and expensive for all involved.
Hybrid Working
You can select which decisions you want to be grouped together, and which you want to make in collaboration or individually.
This must be clearly listed in a hybrid box when registering your LPA, and decisions which you wish to be made jointly together still pose the same risks if one of your attorneys dies.
Need Advice or Help?
Our expert legal team will handle your lasting power of attorney, ensuring you can regain control of your affairs in the event that you lose mental capability. Contact us for specialist advice and help.