CHOOSING YOUR ATTORNEYS

You, and only you, choose your attorneys and you can choose one or more people to be your attorney. If you appoint more than one, you must decide whether they’ll make decisions separately or together. You can also appoint replacement attorneys that can step in if your original attorneys can’t act.

Your attorney doesn’t need to live in the UK or be a British citizen, but it’s important to remember that the Lasting Power of Attorney is meant to be practical document and you need to think about whether your proposed attorney will be in a position to help when the time comes.

When choosing an attorney, it’s important to think about:

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• how well they look after their own affairs, for example their finances

• how well you know them - is it just a friendly neighbour or a best friend akin to family?

• how long you have known them - is it just a few months or years or is it decades?

• if you trust them to make decisions in your best interests

• how happy they will be to make decisions for you

• will they have the time or the inclination to look after you and your affairs with the care and attention you would like

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Ultimately, you must be sure that whoever you appoint is someone that you can trust to a very high degree and that you can put your complete faith in their personal integrity, ability to manage your affairs wisely and to always have your best interests at the heart of every decision. If you have any doubts, then we would strongly advise you to seek professional advice on your options before you appoint appoint someone in whom you have less than complete trust.

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Who can be your attorney?

Your attorneys need to be 18 or over. They could be:

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• your husband, wife or partner

• your adult children

• another relative

• a close friend

• a professional, for example a solicitor, but they will need to be paid for their time

You must appoint someone who has the mental capacity to make their own decisions. You can’t choose someone who is subject to a Debt Relief Order or is bankrupt if you’re making a Lasting Power of Attorney for property and financial affairs.

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You can appoint more than one attorney

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Appointing more than one attorney can be a very prudent idea. If you only have a single attorney and they are not available, out of the country or themselves are incapacitated then your Lasting Power of Attorney will not help.

Of course, you should only appoint people who you can trust, and you will need to consider how they will act.

If you’re appointing more than one person, you must decide if they’ll make decisions:

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• together or separately: called ‘jointly and severally’ which means attorneys can make decisions on their own or with other attorneys

• together: called ‘jointly’ which means all the attorneys have to agree on the decision

You can also choose to let them make some decisions ‘jointly’, and others ‘jointly and severally’. Attorneys who are appointed jointly must all agree, or they can’t make the decision.