What is power of attorney and why set one up before you need it?
A power of attorney is a legal document letting you appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf. The critical thing about it is a paradox: you can only create one while you still have the mental capacity to do so. Once capacity is lost, it is too late.
In England and Wales the main form is a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), and there are two separate types:
Property and financial affairs — managing bank accounts, paying bills, dealing with pensions and benefits, selling property. This one can be used while you still have capacity if you choose, which is useful during illness or time abroad.
Health and welfare — decisions about medical treatment, care arrangements and where you live. This can only be used once you have lost capacity, and covers life-sustaining treatment only if you explicitly say so.
Many people make only the financial one and later find nobody has authority over care decisions. Most advisers suggest doing both.
An LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used, which takes several weeks and carries a fee. Registering it does not mean it is in use.
What happens without one is the reason this matters. If someone loses capacity with no LPA in place, family cannot simply take over — even a spouse. Someone must apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which is considerably slower, substantially more expensive, involves ongoing supervision and annual reporting, and gives the court rather than you the choice of who is appointed. Meanwhile accounts can be frozen and bills go unpaid.
Choose attorneys carefully — they must act in your best interests, and you can require them to act jointly for major decisions.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own equivalent systems. This is general information, not legal advice.