Making Decisions For Others

6th September 2011

At its height the Somerset Coalfield employed over 4000 people. However, it is still only less than 40 years ago that pits were still operating at Kilmersdon and Writhlington. A visit to the excellent Radstock Museum is always a timely reminder on how tough life was for the miners and their families in this area, faced with daily risk of accident and disease. Even today, the global average age of the miner is still only 52.

How things have changed. Today, any baby boy born at the Paulton Memorial Hospital can expect to reach the national average of 77 years of age. For girls, it is even better, with a life expectancy of 82.

However, our ageing population brings with it new challenges. Many more of us, our friends and our relatives simply become less able to deal with life either due to physical or mental capacity. As public funding dries up, care of our elderly has now become a major issue for all of us.

I now see some of these strains every day in my work as a lawyer. Caring for the elderly can be both a wonderful and rewarding experience. However, I also understand that it can sometimes be stressful. This is where a Lasting Power of Attorney can help change lives.

Briefly, a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a document that gives a person legal authorisation to act on someone else’s behalf.  There are two types of LPA that I commonly deal with. The first is an LPA that deals with property and financial affairs and allows you to appoint someone of your choice to deal with your money and property in the event that you are either unable or unwilling to deal with the matter yourself.

I also commonly draft LPAs that deal with personal welfare, thus allowing you to choose who will deal with health issues when you can no longer do so. In particular, you may well want to specify different types of treatment or special considerations if you became critically or terminally ill.

As you will already have realised, the Lasting Power of Attorney is an extremely powerful document. The only way to ensure that your full needs are met and that the person you want to deal with your affairs can indeed do this on your behalf is to ensure that you have a properly and professionally drawn Lasting Power of Attorney.

This is where my team and I come in. We will give you sensitive and considered help and advice to provide the solution that is best for your family and yourself. And before you commit to anything-we will provide you with free initial advice explaining exactly what is involved including the eventual costs.

The world has changed greatly since the closure of Norton Hill and the other great pits. Happily, so have the legal procedures that we now have available to cope with the consequences of those changes.

Ken Saunders

Ken Saunders is Head of our Wills Trusts and Estates team. He and his team can be contacted for afree consultation on 01761 414646.