LPOA Finance and Health, what did you put in yours?

[superstar63]

Looking for some ideas of what to put in the health one mainly. Cremation is one thing but how do you word others like what happens if you are terminal and dont want any intervention and in what circumstances etc.

Anything else I should be thinking of, my mind has gone blank!

@superstar63 I would probably make an advance decision for those sorts of things.

When my late parents did theirs through their solicitors, it came with a check sheet of circumstances to be discussed which turned out to be very helpful when the time came for mum.

This looks like a useful document to read
www.mysurgerywebsite.co.uk/website/J83615/files/Guidance.pdf

I haven't dealt with a health one. But on the finance one you need to keep it very simple to enable it to be useful. If you use the jointly acting idea the. It needs to be specific as to what - e.g. sale of house. If you do something like transactions over £1000 then the ba is won't register it as they cannot process it. I guess you can exclude certain accounts or assets but it is something to be aware of.

Hi OP,
Funeral arrangements are specified in a will (if you want to do so) not a LPA as the LPA ends when the donor dies.
It's important to complete (it's a yes or no answer) the part about permission to attorneys to refuse life sustaining treatment.
When I take instructions from clients for a LPA(HW) I recommend that the donor avoids "instructions" (as these bind the attorney(s) and can be inflexible but that in the"preferences" part they may wish to express their views about matters such as whether they would want to:

1. Be cared for at home so long as it is safe and financially viable
2. Remain with spouse/partner if possible/feasible/in their mutual best interests eg if moving to alternative accommodation
3. Be kept free of pain but not receiving life prolonging treatment if ill and medical advice is that recovery is not possible
4. Be supported to continue to attend a place of worship, club or society for as long as they're physically capable of doing so

But really the key points are that there's no one size fits all solution and the donor needs to be clear about what they do/don't want (or to be happy to trust the wisdom and discernment of their attorney(s) should they lose capacity and the power be used.)

@JennyMule - Thank you, that is the sort of thing I am looking for which is rather obvious but my mind went blank. I especially would want No. 3 about being kept free of pain etc.

I advice patients that the point of a LPOA for Health and Welfare is that you trust them to know the general direction of care you would want, and be flexible in different situations rather than giving them a list to follow.

If there are things you absolutely would not want in any circumstances those are for an Advance Decision for Refusal of Treatment. Very few people want one of these and they are best written when you know your illness and what likely treatments you are declining.

Anything more specific is a wish not a demand, and mostly these are hard to decide on unless you are terminally ill - and sometimes impossible even then.

I don't think I have ever seen anything on an LPOA by way of wishes or instructions. Literally just checked it's valid and that's it.