Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney: why are they so important?

Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney
Make a Lasting Power of Attorney

Who needs a Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney is a comment we often get.  Why spend the money?  Doctors and Social Services will normally do what the family wants, so it is a waste of money to get a Welfare LPA – isn’t it? We would very strongly disagree, as would the families of Kate Garraway, Betty Figg, Jaqueline Barker, and of the former policeman Paul Briggs as well as many others.  They have all found themselves in situations where the family had lost control over how their loved one should be treated.  That is not a nice feeling.

A Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney deals with medical matters, what you wear, who you are allowed to see, what you eat, and crucially – where you live.

Betty Figg and her family would not agree that Social Services always get the right end of the stick, or that they always do the right thing.  Betty Figg wanted to be at home, not in a care home.  Betty Figgis’ family wanted her to be at home, not in a care home.  But Social Services decided that the families views didn’t count, nor did those of Betty Figg herself.  Social Services knew best, and in the absence of a Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney, Social Services made the rules.  They brought along four policemen with a battering ram to take Betty Figg away from the home and the family she loved and move her back into a Care Home where she was losing the will to live.

Is that a position you would wish any of your family to be in?  Contact us to organise a Welfare LPA today, on 01323 384003: tomorrow could be too late.

THE STORY of a Coventry grandma seized from her daughter’s home has brought back painful memories for a city woman who launched a High Court custody battle for her own frail mum.

Sadly Jacqualine Barber’s mum was still in a care home when she died because red tape meant they spent several months waiting for the case to be heard.

Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney – Everyone over 18 Needs one

We continually hear from the public and solicitors who should know better that Welfare Lasting Powers of Attorney are not important.   We agree they are not important – they are vital.  If you have been badly advised in this area, don’t leave things to chance, contact us today to organise Welfare Lasting Powers of Attorney for the adults in your family.  Always bear in mind that the whole process is incredibly bureaucratic and takes around 3 months, so if anyone is going to have a stroke or an accident, or has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, they need to give 3 months notice!

Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney – Who Needs One?