You must make a Lasting Power of Attorney before you need it

You have to make a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) before you actually need it as you will have to show that you have the ability to make decisions to pass the ‘test’ of sufficient mental capacity required to satisfy the certificate provider.

For some and maybe many people this is a bit of a Catch 22 situation as the first time they think about making an LPA is when dementia is looming. That is not fatal as even though there will be periods when the donor (the person who makes the LPA) is not lucid there will be plenty of opportunities when recollection and understanding are sufficient.

The problem is that this stage of dementia can be for a short time without any real indication of a time when it gets so bad that it will be too late to make an LPA.

The certificate provider is the gatekeeper who must be satisfied that the donor knows what he or she is doing by making the LPA, say why they are doing it and why the attorneys were chosen and what powers were give. There is also a check on the issue of being pressured into making it to look at. Without satisfying the certificate provider there can be no Lasting Power of Attorney.

If things are left too late the alternative is for someone to apply to the Court of Protection (CoP) to have a deputy appointed. This is not seen as a desirable way to deal with the issue and is certainly not a first choice as there are serious issues such as added cost, delays and increased bureaucracy. Many people have cause to complain every year about how badly they have been dealt with by the CoP.

Where to make a Lasting Power of Attorney in London?

If you are in London and thinking of making a Lasting Power of Attorney there is clearly the widest choice of professionals available and of course all the online offers as well.

Firstly, congratulations on getting this far. It is definitely a very prudent thing to do.

Secondly, you need decide on how to make it. You can go it alone as there is some official guidance available or you can get expert help from a lawyer or from a will writer or you can take a punt on an online provider.

You may well be concerned about the cost of a Lasting Power of Attorney which could make the online offers look attractive. They are definitely pitched at the lower end of the scale of charged for services but then there is a reason for that which none of them make clear. The simple answer is the online LPA providers only deal with the first part of the process.

The first part of an LPA is the donor’s details, the donor being the person making the LPA, and the appointment of the attorney or attorneys with reference to attorney powers. The online version fill in these details and then put it the right format on the LPA form for printing. The advice given is essentially a rehash of the official guidance from the Office of the Public Guardian.

What they do not offer is:
• the provision of a certificate provider which is the second part of the process
• arranging for the attorney to sign and ensuring their signatures are witnessed properly
• the notification process
• the registration process

This part of the process is very important, is a significant amount of work and all of it needs to be done correctly.
In effect the payment is for little more than filling in a form and putting it in printable format. These offers sound like bargain but you tend to get what you pay for.

So apart from the online you can choose from a large range of solicitors and a few barristers too. You might be surprised that barristers can often charge a lot less than an average solicitors.

If you want a professional service it may be worth checking out low cost London barrister Lasting Power of Attorney services.

Are more DIY Wills being written?

Throughout the UK, Europe and indeed many parts of the world there is a fear of recession and what it might bring. Many people worry about how their standard of living might change and decline.

There can be a fear of job loss or even their house. With all that going on discretionary spending is falling rapidly.

Writing your Will is in the ‘discretionary purchase’ bracket. It can be made any time or never. Of course for many it is a sensible and desirable thing to do. It may even be seen as a rite of passage by some.

So perhaps it would not be surprising to hear that more people want cheap or free wills. That is my interpretation of internet search results.

The problem is that this sort of ‘product’ can be a big mistake for many.

Just picture the sad scenario where the £9.99 Post Office bargain DIY Will is discovered to be invalid or ineffective during the fallout period after the death of that person you love and care about.

Dying intestate because your money-saving DIY Will has not been signed correctly is a rotten epitaph.

In around a week I will be officially back in private practice as a barrister. There will be some changes on this site as a result but in the main the same services will be offer (and some additions such as court and tribunal representation).

There is also a new website which can be found here Corsham Barristers Chambers

Are DIY Wills safe?

People do DIY Wills in their droves and the simple reason is that they are cheap. I know people writing their own Will can get it wrong as I have seen it happen and I know it happens a lot due to general reporting of this issue.

Therefore we have lots of people doing something that puts them at risk of making a major lifetime mistake that can impact in a drastic way on the very people they want to protect by writing the Will in the first place.

I don’t think anyone like me writing an article is likely to be able to persuade many people to be more cautious as the sort of people who do DIY wills are probably not in the market to spend much money on having one professionally drawn up. So can someone intent on the budget route be persuaded to take one more important step towards having a proper valid Will. The answer is to have your DIY Will checked by a lawyer for validity.

Just imagine having spent an hour or two planning what exactly you are going to put in your Will and satisfied you have got it right, you get your witnesses in to witness you signing it but it doesn’t happen properly. the big question is do you realise that it has gone wrong?

The signing and witnessing bit of the Will (called the attestation) is a vital part of the process and if done incorrectly the will is not valid. Unfortunately a faulty attestation is the most common reason for the invalidity of a Will.

There is also another way to go with this lawyer check route which is to buy a DIY package or Will kit including the lawyer check. Look here on the Lawscape site for one such option http://lawscape.co.uk/do-it-yourself-wills

You can negotiate Terms and Conditions?

 
You may be buying a service such as graphic design, photography or a web site. Chances are you will be presented with a set of Terms and Conditions for you to check and sign. They may present as standard for the industry and there may be nothing that seems objectionable.
 

But if you are not careful you may be agreeing to buy nothing more than a licence to use the ‘product’ you have paid for. This may not be what you were expecting.
 

For example for websites you may be simply buying the right to use the website as presented with no right to alter it without paying the supplier to do it and perhaps no right to sell it. These sort of clauses do come up. For photography you probably will not be offered the IP Rights associated with the work done.
 

So a prudent purchaser should check the small print carefully and consider asking for something more favourable to be agreed.
 

If you are not sure what to look for, consider having a lawyer check of the terms and make suggestions for new clauses to give you a better outcome. If it a contract for bespoke work of any substance the supplier would be quite likely to accede to sensible suggestions that don’t affect their ongoing business.
 

Having a lawyer do this need not be an expensive service. Check out more about Terms & Conditions for your business on http//:lawscape.co.uk

Terms & Conditions for your business

You are probably familiar with the idea of “Terms and Conditions” being the basis of a contract between supplier and client or customer.  “Client” is typically used for provision of services whereas “Customer” is normally used when supplying goods.

Variations of terminology for Terms and Conditions are used.  Other names in general use include “Business Terms”, “Terms” and “Contract of Sale”. When a contract for sale is varied at the client’s request this is often referred to as a “Sales Agreement”.

The whole point of having Terms and Conditions is to regulate your business relationship with your client. This is beneficial for your business and serves to clearly inform your client of the basis of your contract.

If you do business without any formal terms and conditions you risk being drawn into unnecessary dialogue about the basis of your contract with your client, that can harm your business relationship with the client and, sorry, it tends to look unprofessional.

If it gets as far as litigation the outcome is far less certain as evidence of what was said and written in the course of negotiating the deal will have be probed and the court will ‘supply’ the missing elements from legal principles.

Unfair Dismissal and other Employment law changes

Many employers are looking forward to an extension of the period of employment to 2 years before a claim for unfair dismissal can be mounted. Other measures that are being considered include a possible tougher procedure to weed out spurious claims and a ‘court fee’ for a disgruntled employee to register a claim.

However do bear in mind that this is not going to apply to anti-discrimination measures as outlined in the Equality Act and there are a large number of exceptions to the rule rquiring a qualifying period of employment that come within the ambit of Automatically Unfair Dismissals.

Sometimes employers feel a sense of protection because the basic right to claim unfair dismissal is not available to a given employee. This should not prevent any sensible and prudent employer from following all the normal rules and procedures.

It really does make sense to treat all employees on the same footing. Doing so helps in the process of ‘owning’ your discipline procedure. This can help to insulate you from making mistakes if you have some detail wrong that might allow a claim by another route such as wrongful dismissal which is a civil law remedy available for breach of contract.

Getting the whole process right is the best way and getting the process right is not so difficult if you have the right help. Lawscape can asisst with Employment Law compliance quickly, easily and a reasobable prices.

Attestation

Attestation is the term used for the signing and witnessing element of writing a valid Will.

In England a testator must sign his or her Will in the presence of two witnesses who then must each sign and note their address and occupation below the testator’s signature.

This process seems simple enough but faulty attestation is probably the single most common reason that Wills are invalid.

This is clearly not a particular risk when supervised during the attestation procedure or the attested Will is checked afterwards by a lawyer. This is a major weakness of DIY Wills that are not checked for correct attestation and as a result any fault is only found out when the DIY Will is put forward for probate.

Some people want to change their name. It can be to get a name they really like or to get rid of a name they don’t like, or to align ‘family names’.

In the UK this is a straightforward process really. There is actually no set down legal procedure to follow. You can just start using your new name and stop using the old one. You can change forenames, surnames or add more names – it is all possible. One thing you should not do is change your name to further some type of fraudulent or otherwise dishonest activity.

Whilst it is legally simple to change your name there are possible hiccoughs if you don’t adopt a recognised method of showing you have changed your name. The best way to ensure your name change is recognised in all circumstances ids to use a Deed Poll. This is the evidence of changing your name that is required to get a passport in your new name.

If you want to find out more about the best way to show you have changed your name check out the information here about Deed Polls : http://lawscape.co.uk/deed-poll-form