Lasting Powers of Attorney: What Happens If You Can’t Get Home?
I’m still in Malaysia as I write this, enjoying the final days of my March adventure. Last week, I wrote about estate planning document accessibility and how travel made me think differently about organisation. This week, I want to explore lasting power of attorney protection—something that’s been on my mind even more during this trip. What would happen if I couldn’t get home?
It’s not a pleasant thought, and I’m having a wonderful time here. But sitting in a café in George Town, Penang, thousands of miles from home, the question feels more immediate than it ever does in my Oxfordshire office. If something happened to me here—a serious illness, an accident, anything that left me unable to make decisions—who would manage my affairs back home?
This is where lasting power of attorney protection becomes not just important, but essential. Whilst your Will only matters after you die, your Lasting Powers of Attorney protect you whilst you’re still alive. That protection matters most when you’re far from home and unable to act for yourself.
The Scenario Nobody Wants to Consider
Imagine this situation. You’re travelling abroad—perhaps on holiday, visiting family, or on an extended trip like mine. Something happens. A stroke, a serious accident, a sudden illness. You’re in hospital, receiving treatment, but you’ve lost the ability to make decisions or communicate clearly.
Back home in England, your life continues without you. Bills arrive and need paying. Your mortgage or rent falls due. Insurance renewals come up. Your bank needs authorisation for transactions. Both where you are and potentially for your ongoing care, medical decisions need making.
Without lasting power of attorney protection in place, your family faces a devastating reality. Despite loving you and wanting to help, they have no legal authority to access your bank accounts. They cannot speak to your mortgage lender or make decisions about your care. No matter how obviously they should be able to step in, they cannot.
What Lasting Powers of Attorney Actually Do
Many people have heard of Lasting Powers of Attorney, often shortened to LPAs. However, understanding exactly what they do and why they matter often remains unclear until a crisis forces the issue.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document. It allows you to appoint one or more people—called attorneys—to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity. Under the law of England and Wales, two types of LPA exist, each covering different aspects of your life.
The Property and Financial Affairs LPA gives your chosen attorneys the power to manage your money and property. This includes accessing your bank accounts and paying your bills. Your attorneys can manage investments, sell property if necessary, and deal with tax affairs. Crucially, you can allow this type of LPA to be used as soon as it’s registered, even whilst you still have capacity.
The Health and Welfare LPA gives your attorneys the power to make decisions about your medical treatment and personal care. This includes deciding where you should live and what medical treatment you should receive. Decisions about life-sustaining treatment fall within this scope too. Unlike the Property and Financial Affairs LPA, this type can only be used once you’ve lost mental capacity.
Why Distance Makes Lasting Power of Attorney Protection More Urgent
When you’re at home in the UK, going about your normal life, the absence of LPAs might not seem immediately critical. You’re there to handle things yourself. Your family can ask you questions, get your input, and act with your explicit permission.
Distance changes everything. If something happens whilst you’re abroad, the practical difficulties multiply rapidly. Your family cannot pop round to discuss options with you. Verifying your wishes or getting your signature on documents becomes impossible. The time difference complicates communication. If you’re in hospital overseas, visiting hours and language barriers add further obstacles.
Meanwhile, life at home doesn’t stop. Direct debits continue. Bills accumulate. Time-sensitive matters arise. Your family watches helplessly, knowing what needs doing but unable to act without your authority—authority you cannot give because you’ve lost capacity.
The Deputyship Alternative Nobody Wants
Without lasting power of attorney protection in place, applying to the Court of Protection for deputyship becomes the only option. This is the legal process where the court appoints someone to make decisions on behalf of a person who lacks mental capacity.
Deputyship applications take months to process. The typical timeframe runs from three to six months, though sometimes longer. During this time, your affairs remain frozen. Nobody can access your finances or make decisions on your behalf, regardless of how urgent the situation becomes.
The process is also expensive. Application fees alone cost £400, plus an annual supervision fee of £320 that continues for as long as the deputyship remains in place. Most people also need legal assistance with the application. Solicitor fees typically add £1,500 to £3,000 or more.
Deputies face restrictions that attorneys under LPAs don’t. The Court of Protection monitors deputies closely. Reports on how they’re managing your affairs must be submitted regularly. Deputies need court permission for many decisions that attorneys could make freely. The process is more bureaucratic, more expensive, and gives your family less flexibility to act in your best interests.
All of this could be avoided with lasting power of attorney protection. LPAs cost a fraction of the price and can be set up whilst you have full capacity to choose your attorneys carefully.
Real Situations Where Lasting Power of Attorney Protection Becomes Critical
Over the years, I’ve worked with families who faced these situations. The details change, but the fundamental problem remains the same. Someone loses capacity unexpectedly, and without LPAs in place, their family cannot help them.
One family I worked with had a father who suffered a stroke whilst on holiday in Spain. He survived but lost the ability to speak or make decisions. His wife needed to arrange his medical repatriation and organise ongoing care. She also needed to manage their joint finances. Without LPAs, she couldn’t access his accounts or make decisions about his treatment. The family spent months in legal limbo whilst applying for deputyship, all whilst facing mounting bills and impossible decisions.
Another client’s mother developed sudden-onset dementia whilst visiting relatives in Australia. The daughter needed to sell her mother’s UK property to fund care home fees. Without an LPA for Property and Financial Affairs, she couldn’t. The property sat empty whilst the family went through the deputyship process. Care home fees depleted other savings that could have been preserved.
These aren’t rare edge cases. Strokes, accidents, and sudden cognitive decline happen every day. Whether a situation becomes manageable or catastrophic often depends on whether lasting power of attorney protection was in place beforehand.
The Two Types of LPA: Which Do You Need?
The short answer is: probably both. Whilst some people assume they only need one type of LPA, the two serve completely different purposes. You’ll likely need both to fully protect yourself.
Property and Financial Affairs LPA
This LPA covers everything related to your money and property. Your attorneys can manage your bank accounts and pay bills. Collecting benefits or pensions, buying or selling property, and managing investments all fall within their authority. Dealing with tax matters also becomes their responsibility.
One significant advantage of this lasting power of attorney protection is flexibility in timing. You can choose to let your attorneys use it as soon as it’s registered, even whilst you still have capacity. Some people do this when they want help managing their affairs. Physical disability, difficulty getting to the bank, or simply the complexity of their financial situation might prompt this decision.
For travellers or people who spend extended time abroad, this flexibility can be invaluable. Your attorneys can handle urgent financial matters at home whilst you’re away, even if you haven’t lost capacity. This doesn’t mean giving up control. You can still make your own decisions and override your attorneys if you disagree with their choices.
Health and Welfare LPA
This LPA covers decisions about your medical treatment, personal care, and where you live. Your attorneys can consent to or refuse medical treatment on your behalf. Care home placement decisions fall within their remit, as do day-to-day care matters.
Crucially, this type of lasting power of attorney protection can include authority over life-sustaining treatment. You can specify whether your attorneys should have the power to refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf. This is a deeply personal decision that only you can make.
Unlike the Property and Financial Affairs LPA, this one can only be used after you’ve lost capacity. Your attorneys cannot make health decisions for you whilst you’re still capable of making them yourself. However, once you do lose capacity, having this LPA in place means your chosen attorneys can work with medical professionals. They can make decisions that reflect your values and wishes.
Choosing Your Attorneys
Selecting your attorneys is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. These are the people who will step into your shoes if you cannot act for yourself. They need to be trustworthy, capable, and willing to take on the responsibility.
You can appoint one attorney or multiple attorneys. If you appoint more than one, you need to decide how they should work together. Acting jointly means all attorneys must agree on every decision. Acting jointly and severally means attorneys can make decisions independently or together.
Joint decision-making provides more protection—no single attorney can act alone. However, it can be impractical. If attorneys live far apart or quick decisions are needed, joint action becomes difficult. Joint and several gives more flexibility but requires enormous trust. Each attorney must act appropriately without oversight from the others.
Many people appoint different attorneys for their Property and Financial Affairs LPA versus their Health and Welfare LPA. The skills and temperament needed to manage finances differ from those needed to make sensitive health decisions. Your financially savvy sibling might be perfect for managing your money. Meanwhile, your compassionate friend who understands your values might be better suited to health decisions.
You should also appoint replacement attorneys. If your first-choice attorney dies, loses capacity themselves, or simply cannot continue, your replacement attorney can step in. This avoids the need to create a new LPA.
Common Misconceptions About Lasting Power of Attorney Protection
Several myths about Lasting Powers of Attorney persist, often preventing people from setting them up when they should.
The first misconception is that LPAs are only for elderly people. Loss of capacity doesn’t respect age. Accidents, strokes, and sudden illnesses affect people in their thirties, forties, and fifties just as they affect older people. Waiting until you’re elderly means risking that you’ll lose capacity before you can create LPAs. Once you’ve lost capacity, it’s too late.
Another myth suggests that your spouse or civil partner can automatically make decisions for you. They cannot. Without an LPA, your spouse has no more legal authority over your finances or medical treatment than a stranger would. Marriage doesn’t grant automatic decision-making powers.
Some people worry that creating LPAs means giving up control immediately. This isn’t true for Property and Financial Affairs LPAs. You choose whether your attorneys can act whilst you still have capacity. Even if they can, you retain the right to make your own decisions. For Health and Welfare LPAs, your attorneys cannot use them until you’ve lost capacity. You maintain complete control unless and until that happens.
Finally, people sometimes think LPAs are expensive and complicated to set up. Whilst registration fees exist (currently £82 per LPA, though some people qualify for exemptions or reductions), this is far less than the cost of deputyship. Professional help creating your LPAs costs significantly less than the legal fees for deputyship applications. The process is straightforward with proper guidance.
The Registration Process
Creating an LPA involves several steps. Understanding the process helps you plan appropriately. You cannot use an LPA until the Office of the Public Guardian has registered it. Starting the process well before you might need it is essential.
First, you create the LPA document itself. This involves deciding which type of LPA you need. You’ll choose your attorneys and any replacement attorneys. Any preferences or instructions for how your attorneys should act need specifying. Professional Will writers like us can guide you through these decisions. We ensure your LPA is completed correctly.
Once the document is complete, it must be signed in a specific order. You sign first. Then a certificate provider signs—someone who confirms you understand what you’re doing and aren’t being pressured. Finally, your attorneys sign. Getting the signing order wrong invalidates the LPA. This is why professional guidance proves valuable.
After signing, you send the LPA to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration. This process typically takes eight to ten weeks. Delays can occur during busy periods. During registration, the OPG notifies people you’ve named to be told about the LPA. These are often family members. This gives them a chance to raise concerns if they believe something is wrong.
Once registered, you receive the original LPA back with an official stamp. Your attorneys might receive copies. You can request additional certified copies from the OPG for a small fee. These copies allow your attorneys to prove their authority when acting on your behalf.
Using Lasting Power of Attorney Protection When You’re Abroad
If something happens whilst you’re travelling, your UK-based LPAs allow your attorneys to manage your affairs at home in England and Wales. They can access your bank accounts to pay bills. Speaking to your mortgage lender about payment arrangements becomes possible. Your attorneys can collect your pension or benefits. Any financial matters that arise can be handled.
Your attorneys can make important decisions about your UK-based matters. They can speak to your GP about your medical history. Arranging for appropriate care when you return home becomes their responsibility. Decisions about where you should live during recovery fall to them. They can ensure your property is maintained whilst you’re away.
This is why travel insurance remains crucial even when you have lasting power of attorney protection. Your LPAs enable your attorneys to manage your affairs in England and Wales whilst you’re abroad. Travel insurance provides additional protection for immediate needs whilst you’re overseas.
For health and welfare decisions, the situation becomes more complex. Your Health and Welfare LPA applies to treatment and care decisions in England and Wales. If you’re receiving medical treatment abroad, local laws govern who can make medical decisions for you. Your UK LPA might not be recognised.
However, your attorneys can still make important health and welfare decisions about your UK-based matters. They can speak to your GP about your medical history. Arranging for appropriate care when you return home becomes their responsibility. Decisions about where you should live during recovery fall to them. They can ensure your property is maintained whilst you’re away. Your LPAs enable your attorneys to manage the wider implications of your incapacity back home.
What If You Already Have an Enduring Power of Attorney?
Before October 2007, people created Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) rather than LPAs. If you have an EPA that was created and signed before 1 October 2007, it remains valid. You don’t need to replace it with an LPA.
However, EPAs only cover property and financial affairs. They don’t cover health and welfare decisions. If you have an old EPA but no Health and Welfare LPA, you should consider creating one. This ensures all aspects of your care are covered.
EPAs also offer less flexibility than modern LPAs. You might want to review your EPA. Check whether the attorneys you appointed years ago are still the right people. Consider whether the document reflects your current wishes. If not, you can revoke your EPA and create new LPAs. These can better suit your current situation.
When to Set Up Your Lasting Power of Attorney Protection
The best time to create Lasting Powers of Attorney is now. You currently have full mental capacity and can make thoughtful decisions about who should act for you. Waiting until you think you might need them is dangerous. By that point, you might already lack the capacity to create them.
Mental capacity can disappear suddenly. A stroke, serious accident, or acute illness can leave you unable to make decisions with no warning. Once you lack capacity, creating LPAs becomes impossible. Your family faces the deputyship process instead.
Some life events make LPA creation particularly urgent. Planning extended travel makes LPAs essential, especially to remote areas or countries with less developed medical infrastructure. Setting up lasting power of attorney protection beforehand provides crucial security. If you’re undergoing surgery or treatment for serious illness, creating LPAs whilst you’re still well enough to do so protects you if complications arise.
Buying property abroad, starting a business, or taking on significant financial commitments all increase the importance of having LPAs in place. The more complex your affairs, the harder it becomes for your family to manage without proper authority if something happens to you.
The Peace of Mind Factor
Beyond the practical benefits, lasting power of attorney protection provides something less tangible but equally valuable: peace of mind. Knowing that someone you trust can step in if you cannot act for yourself removes a significant source of anxiety. This matters particularly when you’re far from home.
For your family, LPAs mean they can actually help you if the worst happens. Rather than watching helplessly whilst bureaucratic processes grind forward, they can take immediate action. Protecting your interests becomes possible. They can ensure your bills are paid, your property is maintained, and your care needs are met.
This peace of mind extends to everyday situations as well. If you’re overseas and need someone to handle something urgent at home, your Property and Financial Affairs LPA (if set up to be used whilst you have capacity) allows your attorney to act immediately. No need to rush home for a signature exists. Managing complex financial matters via international phone calls becomes unnecessary.
Taking Action
If you’ve read this far and realised you don’t have lasting power of attorney protection in place, the next step is straightforward: get them set up. Don’t wait until you think you might need them. Don’t assume you’re too young or healthy to worry about it. Don’t put it off because it seems complicated or unpleasant to think about.
Creating LPAs whilst you’re well and capable is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. It’s not about being pessimistic—it’s about being prepared. Making decisions now, whilst you can, beats leaving your family to guess what you would have wanted.
The process doesn’t have to be difficult. With professional guidance, you can create well-drafted LPAs that reflect your wishes. Your attorneys receive clear direction. The cost is modest compared to the potential consequences of not having them. The time investment is minimal—usually just a few hours to complete the documents and get them signed properly.
How A.D.E Wills Can Help
At A.D.E Wills, we help people across England and Wales create Lasting Powers of Attorney that provide genuine protection and peace of mind. We understand that thinking about losing capacity isn’t easy. However, we make the process as straightforward and stress-free as possible.
We’ll talk you through the different types of LPA and help you decide which ones you need. We’ll discuss who might be suitable attorneys and replacement attorneys for your situation. We’ll explain the choices you need to make about joint or joint and several appointments. Any preferences or restrictions you might want to include will be explored.
We’ll ensure your LPAs are completed correctly so they’ll be accepted for registration without delays. We’ll guide you through the signing process to avoid the common mistakes that invalidate LPAs. If you’d like, we can also handle the registration process on your behalf. We’ll manage all communication with the Office of the Public Guardian.
You can reach us by calling 01865 507174 or emailing info@adewills.co.uk. We offer straightforward, professional advice tailored to your individual circumstances. Creating lasting power of attorney protection now, whilst you can, is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.
For more information about estate planning, explore our complete guide here.
Next week, I’ll be writing about how travel experiences and life changes should prompt you to review your Will. Many people create a Will once and forget about it. However, life’s circumstances change constantly—and your Will should reflect your current situation, not who you were years ago.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information about Lasting Powers of Attorney under the law of England and Wales. You should not consider this as personalised legal or financial advice. A.D.E Wills are professional Will writers and estate planners, not solicitors or financial advisers. We recommend that clients seek appropriate professional advice for complex legal matters or financial planning questions. Individual circumstances vary. You should make decisions about Lasting Powers of Attorney based on your specific situation with appropriate professional guidance.
