A Power Of Attorney authorises someone else to deal with your affairs as well as yourself. It does not remove any powers from you.
In Scotland there are two types of Power of Attorney; a continuing Power of Attorney, and a welfare Power of Attorney. The continuing Power of Attorney enables a nominated person to look after another person’s financial and/or property affairs. The welfare Power of Attorney covers, as the name suggests, matters of personal welfare.
You should consider having at least two attorneys in case one should die or become incapable. A good source of indpendent information is the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) website on www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk.
If you appoint a continuing attorney they may be given power to act either straight away or at a later date. If you appoint a welfare attorney the attorney would start to act only if you lose capacity or are no longer able to deal with your own affairs, as certified by a doctor under the terms of the legislation. The Power of Attorney needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) and there is currently a charge of £70 for this. The appointments are usually made within the same document if both are being granted.
Should you lose capacity to act on your own behalf and you do not have a Power of Attorney in place, an Intervention or Guardianship Order could be required and the cost of these can run into thousands of pounds, and take months to set up, whereas a Power of Attorney can be drawn up for a modest cost, along with the registration fee mentioned above.
Every adult should consider having a Power of Attorney in place.
A Living Will, or Advance Directive, is a separate document, outlining your specific wishes in relation to medical treatment in particular circumstances. You may wish to prepare this in addition to granting a Power of Attorney.