Thursday 29 September 2022 is Scotland's National Power of Attorney Day. The campaign is run by mypowerofattorney.org.uk organised by Health and Social Care Scotland. Their website is full of useful information from what is a Power of Attorney, to who needs a Power of Attorney, to accessing funding for a Power of Attorney. They have a great range of short video clips explaining all of the relevant information (https://mypowerofattorney.org.uk/videos/all/)
Last year they prepared a Top 10 Facts and Mythbusters (actually there's 11) and here they are:
· Power of Attorney isn’t just for older or unwell people. Anyone can be affected at any stage of life to find themselves suddenly incapacitated by an unforeseen illness, accident or other debilitating event
· Power of Attorney can be granted to anyone over 16 years that you trust and who is willing to take on this responsibility – eg. a partner, spouse, sibling, child, friend or colleague
· The term ‘Attorney’ applies to your named trusted person/s, not to any solicitor or legal representative. You can appoint more than one ‘Attorney’ to act on your behalf
· Without a Power of Attorney in place, your family, friends or partner have no legal rights to direct your welfare, or step in to oversee your financial or welfare affairs
· There are two types of Power of Attorney – one that grants ‘Welfare powers’ such as issues related to your health, and one for ‘Financial powers’ to manage your money and pay bills. You can choose to grant either power, or both, to your trusted ‘Attorney/s’
· Though lawyers are often involved, some regional carers’ support groups have volunteers to help prepare your Power of Attorney
· The Scottish Legal Aid Board can advise whether financial assistance can be made available to people on modest or low incomes who’d prefer to have a solicitor that offers Legal Aid services draw up their Power of Attorney
· Having a will in place does not authorise the executors named in your will to act on your behalf should you become incapacitated for any reason, and unable to make decisions regarding your personal welfare or finances
· Power of Attorney is a ‘Living Document’ – i.e. it applies during the lifetime of the person authorising its creation. Should that person pass away, all authorisations granted to their Attorney/s come to an end. Power of Attorney does not carry on, after their lifetime, to serve in the place of a will
· Solicitors and medical professionals are empowered to sign and legally authorise Power of Attorney documents, and will likely charge a fee for this service
All Powers of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian for Scotland, for which a fee of £83 applies, however those on low or modest incomes or receiving certain types of benefit may be exempt from paying this charge
If you'd like to find out more about Powers of Attorney, please get in touch to see how I can help, by emailing or telephoning, or even filling my Contact Me form.
01309 752022