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Lasting Powers of Attorney through FarmFuture

Napthens - June 17th 2020

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is possibly one of the most important things you can personally deal with for your family and your business.

A LPA enables you to appoint people to act on your behalf in case you cannot manage certain decisions and responsibilities during your lifetime as a result of accident, illness or mental incapacity.

Many people combine successful businesses and careers with energetic lives, working on the farm and enjoying what little they have left of their hard-earned leisure time.  The problem is that accidents and illnesses rarely give us notice before they happen. They can leave you, whatever your age, unexpectedly incapable, leaving your business partners, colleagues and family to work out what to do next to keep the family business wheels turning. A LPA ensures the right people – people you have previously selected to make decisions on your behalf - are able to step in at a time of emergency, allowing business and family life to continue seamlessly.

It is also worth bearing in mind that most funders and banks want to know that a LPA is in place if they have provided borrowing facilities.

There are two types of LPA:

Property and financial:  allows the people you choose (your attorneys) to manage your financial affairs for you if you are mentally or physically incapacitated

Health and welfare: allows your attorneys to make decisions about your health and welfare if you do not have mental capacity to make these decisions yourself

LPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used and there is a filing fee for that part of the process.

As a team working with farms and rural businesses of all kinds, it concerns us that far too many people do not have LPAs in place.  As a Wills and Estate Planning specialist, I see from personal experience the difficulties that arise when they are not in place and the cost involved in trying to rectify the situation.

Napthens FarmFuture team can resolve this for you as part of our FarmFuture package.  So if you are planning to review your farm partnership, please consider this issue and speak to estate planning specialist Georgina Smith or any member of the Rural team to discuss how we can arrange your LPA and provide you with peace of mind.

Please note:  NFU members are eligible for discounts on our services