Power of attorney
Power of Attorney is a legal document whereby one person gives another person or persons the power to act on his or her behalf with regard to his or her property and financial affairs. The local authority Social Care Services department may be involved in applications for Power of Attorney for their clients and may work with other agencies to monitor abuses.
Power of Attorney is a legal document whereby one person (the "Donor") gives another person or persons (the "Attorney") the power to act on his or her behalf with regard to his or her property and financial affairs.
The most common types of Power of Attorney in England and Wales are:
- Ordinary Power of Attorney- which can be general or limited to specific affairs
- Enduring Power of Attorney- which can be used in the event of the Doner's mental incapacity.
Usually, an Ordinary Power of Attorney is created for a set period of time in cases where the Donor is going abroad or is unable to act for some other reason and wishes someone else to have the authority to act on his or her behalf. An Ordinary Power of Attorney will usually end either at a specified time or upon the request of the Donor at any time using a Deed of Revocation and will automatically be revoked if the Donor loses mental capacity. There is no requirement for the Ordinary Power of Attorney to be registered.
In contrast, an Enduring Power of Attorney allows the Donor to appoint a legally authorised person to look after their property and financial affairs should they become incapable of doing so themselves at some point in the future. It continues after the Donor has become mentally incapable of managing his or her affairs and must be registered when the Attorney becomes aware or has reason to believe that the Donor has become or is becoming mentally incapable.
Service providers and partners
In cases where there is conflict in a family, or where a service user is vulnerable, social care services may offer advice or on occasion take power of attorney. Where we advise others about this, we would normally advise them to contact Hackney Law Centre.
Partners of this service:
- Age Concern in Hackney
- Asian Women's Advisory Service Limited
- City and Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust
- East London and the City Mental Health NHS Trust
- Hackney Police Station
- Homerton University Hospital
- Jewish Care Direct
Referrals and accessing the service
See individual providers and partners details for referrals and access information.
Page updated: 19 Jan 2012
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