What other services do we offer?
Innes Wills & Estate Services offers
the following other services that are related to the provision of
Wills, Probate and tax planning:-
What are “Living Wills” and do I
need to make one?
Living Wills (or “Advance Directives”
as they are sometimes called) are NOT normal Wills – they are
documents setting out what you would like to happen in the event
that you become incapable of taking responsibility for your own
healthcare. You might want to prepare a Living Will in case you are
suddenly incapacitated - this could be as a result of suffering a
major accident or illness, placing the burden of responsibility for
your wishes on your nearest family and friends. The Living Will
states what specific measures should be taken if such an incapacity
occured at any time in the future i.e. consenting or refusing certain
types of medical treatment aimed at the preservation and prolonging
of a person’s life. Under the current legalisation, there is no
legal recourse if the doctor who is caring for you decides to ignore
your wishes as Living Wills are not yet legally binding. However,
it is on the cards that this may change in the near future, and it
is better to write such a document now rather than to have prepared
nothing at all, particularly as people recognise that Living Wills
are becoming increasingly popular and common place.
What are Enduring Powers of
Attorney and aren’t they same as “powers of attorney”?
Few of us remain
physically and mentally happy forever. One of the worries of
growing older is that incapacity becomes more likely – and of course
illness or accidents can occur at any age.
An Enduring Power of
Attorney (or EPA as they are often referred to) appoints an
Attorney, or Attorneys, of your choice to deal with your own
financial affairs i.e. access bank accounts, pay bills, etc, if you
are or are becoming mentally incapable of managing these affairs
yourself. It is entirely up to you as to whether you give your
Attorney wide powers to manage your financial affairs or limit these
powers to deal with only specific financial matters. Making an EPA
does not mean losing control over your own affairs as you can cancel
the power at any time prior to the document being registered if you
wish.
An EPA is not to be
confused with general powers of attorney. Unlike a general power of
attorney, the powers given to an Attorney under an EPA do not cease
when the person who made the power becomes or is becoming mentally
incapable of managing their own financial affairs.
If someone who has
not made an EPA loses the mental capacity to do so and
becomes incapable of handling their own affairs, this may mean that
an application has to be made to the Court of Protection (see below)
to appoint a Receiver. This is a time consuming and costly
procedure, best avoided if possible.
When is Court of
Protection work necessary?
Court of Protection work is directly
linked to Enduring Powers of Attorney. If the person who has made
the EPA (the donor) is or is becoming mentally incapable of managing
their own affairs, then the appointed Attorney has a duty to
register the power with the Court of Protection.
In addition, if a
person has not made an EPA and is or is becoming mentally incapable
of managing their own affairs, then the only alternative is to apply
to the Court of Protection to appoint a Receiver who will carry out
the same type of role as an Attorney would. However, this route
should be avoided if at all possible as it is complicated, time
consuming and expensive.
Innes Wills & Estate
Services are only too pleased to help and assist you in any way they
can regarding the above services so please feel free to contact us
if you have any questions or queries. |
