signs after Kathleen · a witness for each signature
Donor
Attorney · acting
Attorney · acting
Kathleen decides, at her kitchen table in Harrogate.
She’s 74, sharp as ever, and she has seen what happens to families who wait. So she decides now — because an LPA can only be made while you can make the decision yourself. Not a document about decline; a document about deciding.
HOW: ON THE GOVERNMENT’S OWN FORMS, ONLINE OR ON PAPER, REGISTERED BY THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC GUARDIAN. THIS PREPARES THEM — IT IS NOT THE LPA.
James takes the numbers.
The bank, the bills, the pension, one day perhaps the house — the financial decisions LPA, form LP1F. Kathleen lets it work as soon as it is registered, with her permission while she can still decide: the form says most people choose that.
Margaret takes the care side.
Where she lives, her daily routine, her doctors — the health and care decisions LPA, form LP1H, which only works when Kathleen can’t decide for herself. She signs Option A, so her attorneys may decide about life-sustaining treatment. Both children are attorneys on both forms, jointly and severally: either can act alone.
NOTE: A BADLY WORDED SECTION 7 CAN MAKE AN LPA UNWORKABLE. KATHLEEN’S USES ONLY THE OPG’S OWN WORDS: NO SALE OF HER HOME UNLESS HER DOCTOR SAYS SHE CAN NO LONGER LIVE INDEPENDENTLY.
One afternoon, in the right order.
Kathleen signs first, with a neighbour as her witness. Then Helen Ward — a friend for thirty years, not family — signs as her certificate provider. Then James and Margaret, each in front of a witness. One original, a black pen, no correction fluid. And Kathleen signs her statement of wishes: the part that is hers alone.
Then, hopefully, nothing.
Her brother Peter, her person to notify, gets form LP3; both forms go to the Office of the Public Guardian with £184, and they come back registered and stamped. Then birthdays, grandchildren, the garden. The documents do nothing for years — and that is the best case. Kathleen can cancel them at any time while she can still decide.
Her rules, their hands.
Years later, a stroke. Kathleen can no longer decide about her care, and the health and care LPA can now be used. Her doctors and her children read her statement of wishes — stay at home, consult Peter — and the law says they must weigh it. No court application, no deputy: Margaret and James act in her name, by her instructions.
Prepare yours — £1