Lasting Power of Attorney

Are you a Company Director or a Shareholder?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were suddenly unable to sign documents or make decisions?

If an individual loses capacity within a company and has not executed a valid lasting power of attorney, an application to the Court of Protection seeking the appointment of a deputy may be required. This can take a minimum of four months but often the process takes much longer depending on the complexity of the information that must be provided to the Court of Protection.

This could have serious consequences if you are a sole director/shareholder because no one can lawfully make financial decisions on your behalf and bank accounts may be frozen until a deputy is appointed. It may not be possible to pay staff and suppliers, complete unfinished transactions, or even enter into new contracts. This is likely significantly to impede the day-to-day running of the business and, in some cases, may threaten its existence.

Even where there are two or more directors and/or shareholders the bank may choose to freeze the bank account if a director loses capacity to deal with their financial affairs which could leave the company exposed to failure or winding up.

"If one joint account holder loses mental capacity, banks and building societies can decide whether or not to temporarily restrict the use of the account to essential transactions only" - British Bank Association

Having a business Lasting Power of Attorney in place, a director will be able to continue the day-to-day running of the business as Attorneys are able to deal with property owned or leased by the company, organise insurance, access bank statements and accounts, invest assets, deal with the tax affairs, pay staff and suppliers and sign contracts.

If you would like to be prepared for the possibility where you might be incapable of signing documents or taking decisions, we can draft a Lasting Power of Attorney that will allow important decisions to be made should you lose mental capacity.

If you were to make a single Lasting Power of Attorney, then our fees would be £250 + VAT (per application) plus the court/application fee of £82 (no VAT). If more than one application is required (if for example more than one director/shareholder is involved) our fees (per application) would be reduced accordingly and we would ask you to please contact us for a quote.