Losing The Plot Can Cost The Earth

April 7, 2009 - PRLog -- There are 3 versions 696, 510 and 475 words available

If you would like further quotes or information, contact Stephen Pett author of Inheritance Tax Secrets and of Legal Planning Secrets, Regional Director of the Society of Will Writers and MD of Allied Professional Will Writers (www.APWW.co.uk) which runs a free educational eCourse on Financial and Legal Planning.

Work: 01323 741200
Home: 01323 766766
Email: steve@stephenpett.co.uk

Possible headlines.
A Camel is a Horse designed by a committee
A danger to the people – Lasting Powers of Attorney
Losing the plot can cost the earth
Legislative overkill in Personal Legal Planning
The Civil Servants dream – 112 pages to protect a couple
Ticking time bomb – massive costs to hit families
Danger in over complex legal planning
Dire consequences of a simple mishap
A small trip for a man, a big disaster for the family





This version 696 words plus headline

Few people realise that “family” are powerless if a relative or lover loses the ability to make decisions – perhaps through accident, physical or mental illness or just sheer old age (half of you will “lose mental competence” at some time.)  Falling off a bike, down the stairs or tripping on a raised paving stone can happen to anyone, and can result in a coma at any age – this is not just an “old” persons problem.

The only route is to appeal to the Court which generally appoints a relative as that persons “Deputy” – a process which can easily cost thousands.  If you fondly imagine you can avoid this because it is your husband or wife, you are wrong!  Everyone over 18 should have both the Finance and the Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney to be properly protected: these allow YOU to chose who you would wish to manage your finances and welfare if you are unable to, rather than leave it (expensively) to the Courts.  

FindaPro.co.uk (Find a Professional) carried out a survey of 499 firms who write Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) 18 months after LPAs were introduced in October 2007.

The survey showed a disturbing pattern of people failing to protect themselves and their loved ones due to the vastly increased bureaucracy of the new system.

On average, the new complicated forms have caused a drop in around 45% in the numbers of people drawing up these crucial documents.  Most people now delay writing them to the last minute, rather than writing them early as a sensible precaution.  This means that registrations have increased, although the volume actually written seems to have dropped dramatically – we estimate by around 60%.

One respondent, Peter Wallace of APWW.co.uk, said “96% of our Will Writing clients used to write the old Enduring Power of Attorney at £45 (equivalent to the Finance LPA) – but only 30% write LPAs now even though we “only” charge £95 each.”  

Instead of improving protection as intended, LPAs have dramatically reduced the number of people able to access them through the sheer endurance test they represent.  As one respondent said, “Only a Civil Servant could create or complete such an unreasonably long document.”

Only around half of the LPAs written are registered immediately, even though registration is very important.  Cost and complexity were the key drivers.

The draft of the revised simpler form had not been seen by nearly half of the responders, which indicates that the consultation process had been limited.  Those who had seen the draft welcomed any simplification, but felt that the changes were insufficient to increase the uptake.

The staff at the Office of the Public Guardian were totally unprepared when LPAs were launched in October 2007, indeed one respondent said “the level of sheer ignorance was breathtaking.”  How have things improved since then? Not one of the respondents rated either knowledge or helpfulness as good, and, on average, both were rated as not very good (a big improvement!)

Asked if dropping the Registration fee from £150 to £120 would make any difference  58.8% said no, 35.2% said it would improve things a little and 6% said it would make a substantial difference.

Asked if reducing the 50 pages required to create both a Welfare and Finance LPA to a more reasonable 10 pages (very easily achievable) would increase the number of people taking out LPAs only 11.8% said it would make no difference, with a massive 29.4% expecting to more than double uptake, the balance expecting greater than a 50% increase.  On average, the cost of preparation would drop by at least 30%.

How much does it cost to draft an LPA? Most expensive was £1,500 + VAT for a single LPA including registration to a low of around £100 for preparing the document with registration a small extra fee (plus the Court fee of £120).

The conclusion from this survey must be that Lasting Powers of Attorney are over complex, over long and are failing the very people they should be protecting.  No normal mortal is prepared to fill in the 124 pages of documentation required to protect a couple, or 62 pages for an individual.


This version 475 words

Relatives are powerless if a simple accident, physical or mental illness or old age results in your losing the ability to make decisions temporarily or permanently (half of you will “lose mental competence” at some time.)  This is not just an “old” persons problem.

The Court can appoint a relative (usually husband or wife) as  “Deputy” –  which can cost thousands.    Everyone over 18 should have both the Finance and the Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney to chose their own Attorneys.  

FindaPro.co.uk (Find a Professional) carried out a survey on 499 firms who write Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), introduced in October 2007.

The survey showed a disturbing pattern of people failing to protect themselves and their loved ones due to the vastly increased bureaucracy of the new system.

The new complicated forms have caused a drop in around 45% in the numbers written.  Many now delay to the last minute, rather than writing them early as a sensible precaution, so registrations have increased, although the volume written actually has dropped dramatically – perhaps by 60%.

Peter Wallace of APWW.co.uk, said “96% of our clients used to write Enduring Powers of Attorney at £45 (equivalent to the Finance LPA) – but only 30% write LPAs even at “only” £95 each.”  

Instead of improving protection as intended, LPAs have dramatically reduced the number of people able to access them through the sheer endurance test they represent.  “Only a Civil Servant could create or complete such an unreasonably long document.”

The staff at the Office of the Public Guardian were totally unprepared when LPAs were launched, indeed one respondent said “the level of sheer ignorance was breathtaking.”  Have things improved? No one rated either knowledge or helpfulness as good, and, on average, both were rated as not very good.

Would the drop in the Registration fee from £150 to £120 make any difference?  58.8% said no, 35.2% said it would help a little.

Would reducing the 50 pages required to create both a Welfare and Finance LPA to a more reasonable 10 pages (very easily achievable) increase the take up of LPAs? A massive 29.4% expected to more than double uptake, with most of the rest expecting greater than a 50% increase.  On average, the cost of preparation would drop by at least 30%.

How much does an LPA cost? Most expensive was £1,500 + VAT for a single LPA including registration to a low of around £100 for preparing the document with registration at small extra fee (plus the Court fee of £120).

Lasting Powers of Attorney are over complex, over long and are failing the very people they should be protecting.  No normal mortal is prepared to fill in the 124 pages of documentation required to protect a couple, or 62 pages for an individual, so professional help is essential (and can be found at www.FindaPro.co.uk.)

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