News

It currently takes 12 weeks to register a Lasting Power of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian, which is the Government office that supports and promotes decision-making for those who lack mental capacity or would like to plan for their future.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (or LPAs) are legal documents that enable a person to appoint a trusted family member or carer to act on their behalf or make decisions for them, should they lose mental capacity in the future.

There are two types of LPA - one for dealing with financial decisions and one for dealing with health and welfare decisions. LPAs cannot be used until they are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

Although the LPA registration process always includes a six week waiting period to enable the person who made the LPA (and anyone concerned about his or her welfare) to raise objections about the registration, the additional six weeks' delay causes immense worry and practical problems at an already difficult time.

For this reason, we always advise our clients to make and register their LPAs while they are in good health and when the LPAs are not needed urgently. The registered documents can then be placed in our strong room (and hopefully never needed!). If they are needed in the future, then the documents can be used immediately, without any delay.

If you or a relative would like advice about making LPAs, then please contact us for a free initial consultation.

The Government has announced that it will not be taking forward plans to give extra rights to unmarried cohabitating couples during the current Parliament (http://bit.ly/qr1wf1).

In 2007, the Law Commission advised the Government that the current law caused hardship and injustice to unmarried couples that separate and suggested that reform was needed to bring cohabitants' rights in line with the rights of married couples and civil partners.

It is not clear whether the plans are to be shelved indefinitely.  Hopefully the issue will be raised again once other planned changes in the family law system have been made.

If you would like more information about this issue, or if you are not married or in a registered civil partnership with your long term spouse and would like advice about protecting his or her rights should something happen to you, then please let us know.

Gifts in wills form the foundation of donations to charities in the UK.  Many charities depend on legacies and without them would not exist.  Unfortuneately, while 74% of the UK population support charities during their lifetime, only 7% currently leave a legacy to them in their Will.

Remember A Charity was formed in 2000 to encourage more people to consider leaving a charitable gift in their Will, after they’ve looked after their family and friends.  It now works with over 150 of the UK’s favourite charities to do what no single charity can do alone - to make legacy giving in Wills a social norm.

Legacy income is currently worth almost £2 billion a year. If Remember a Charity can grow the sector by just 4%, it could raise an extra £1 billion for UK charities.

So, if you are making a new Will, please consider leaving a legacy to your favourite charity so that they can continue their good work in the future.

It is a regrettable fact that most people (67% in a recent survey) do not know where to locate their parents’ Wills. Often this is due to the passage of time, moving house, a change in solicitor or new relationships. The Certainty National Wills Register has been set up to help locate Wills that might otherwise be lost.  The register (which is only available to solicitors and to cients who have made their Wills with a solicitor) is an online database that records the Wills current location.

Registering with Certainty is completely safe and private, as the register records only the location of the Will and not the contents of the document itself.

If we are holding your Will, it is of course 100% safe.  However, just in case your friends and family do not know that we are holding it, we can now register that fact with Certainty.

How Do I Register?

Simply call, write or click on the ‘contact us’ form to request that we register your Will.