LPA & Advance
Medical Directives

Deciding who speaks for you, and on what terms, while you are still the one able to decide it.

The gap most plans leave

A will takes effect when you die. Neither of these documents waits that long.

Estate planning tends to concentrate on death. The harder scenario is the one in between — a stroke, an accident, a diagnosis — where you are alive but no longer able to make or communicate decisions.

Without documents in place, your family cannot simply step in. They must apply to court to be appointed, and in the meantime accounts, property and business decisions sit frozen.

Lasting Power of Attorney

Who acts for you

An LPA appoints one or more donees to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity — covering personal welfare, property and affairs, or both. You define the scope, and you choose the people.

It is a document made in advance and it cannot be made afterwards. Once capacity is lost, the option is gone and the matter goes to the courts instead.

Advance Medical Directive

What treatment you accept

An AMD records, in advance, that you do not wish extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to be used to prolong your life if you become terminally ill and unconscious.

It is a decision about your own care, made calmly and in your own words, rather than left to relatives to argue over at the worst possible moment.

Two forms

Form 1 or Form 2 — and why it matters

LPA Form 1

The standard form

Pre-drafted, with a fixed set of general powers. Suitable where the estate is straightforward and a trusted family member can reasonably be expected to manage both your welfare and your affairs.

Its limits are the flip side of its simplicity: the powers are what the form provides, and the donee must be an individual.

LPA Form 2

The customised form

Drafted by a lawyer to your specification. Powers can be tailored, limited or extended to fit the estate — and, critically, a licensed trust company can be appointed as a professional donee for property and affairs.

That is what makes it the more robust instrument. A professional donee does not age, fall ill, move abroad, or fall out with the family. For any estate of complexity, or where no relative is the right person to hold capital, Form 2 is the one to use.

Why it matters

Incapacity is a continuity problem — for a household as much as a business.

Bank accounts and mandates freeze without an appointed donee, including joint accounts the family relies on
Property cannot be sold, leased or refinanced on your behalf — even to fund your own care
Care and treatment decisions fall to whoever is loudest, not whoever you would have chosen
Court appointment of a deputy takes months, costs considerably more, and the court decides who
Family disagreement about care and money surfaces at the point of greatest stress
A business with a sole director may be unable to pay staff, sign contracts or authorise anything at all
An LPA sits alongside a Will and a trust, so the same intent governs every scenario
Both documents are inexpensive relative to what their absence costs

What it is used for

Keeping a business operating

Ensuring someone can sign, authorise and decide for the company if its director cannot — without a court application in the meantime.

Keeping accounts and property usable

Preventing bank mandates, investments and real estate from freezing while a family waits for a deputyship order.

Appointing a professional

Placing property and affairs with a licensed trust company where no family member should carry that responsibility — or where you would rather they did not have to.

Keeping care decisions yours

Recording who decides about your welfare and treatment, and what you have already decided for yourself.

Completing the plan

Closing the gap between a Will, which covers death, and a trust, which covers assets — neither of which says who acts for you while you are alive and unable.

While you still can

These are the only documents that cannot be signed late. Once capacity is gone, the choice goes with it — to a court, at a cost, and not necessarily in your favour.

Arrange a consultation

Enquiries

Arrange a
consultation

Tell us what you intend to protect. We will come back with who needs to be in the room.

LPA & AdvanceMedical Directives