Is there any reason NOT to set up LPA

alcachofa

TL;DR is setting up POA a sensible part of 'just in case' planning, or is it OTT?

full:

My partner and I bought a new house last year and set this year down as the year to sort out "all the sensible financial stuff" that maybe we'd been putting off for a while. Whilst we're happily planning to sort wills, work out what combination of Life Ins / PMI is best, and so on, we're a bit lost on LPA.

The MSE guide is very clear on the "do it before you need it" so does it make sense to sort it and forget about it as a mid-30s couple? No health issues or concerns, we'd just make them out reciprocally and then hopefully not need to think about it for a long time. Does that makes sense, or is it just a waste of several hundred pounds?

Catwales

It's 82 for each application, so less than 330 for both of you to sort it out for both of you. 
None of us know what can happen, an accident, a stroke or illness which cause us to lose our faculties. 
Without an LPA you'll won't be able to do anything with bank accounts/bills in the other person's name which can cause huge stress and worry. The health and welfare means the doctors must discuss things with you to make decisions about treatment, if can't go home you get a say in where they live. As a social worker I see it all the time, if it's set up it makes things less stressful and the system easier to navigate

Savvy_Sue

Although you may not anticipate needing it, as Catwales says we just don't know. And the alternative for financial matters is applying for Deputyship - which is currently taking a very long time, is more expensive than LPA, and is more intrusive. 

Consider:
Young couple with young children, husband self-employed in some sort of DIY field. Accident at work, in hospital in a coma. Wife phones bank / mortgage company to explain lack of income and arrange payment holiday etc. Bank freezes joint bank account to protect the interests of the incapacitated partner. Wife has no access to anything, and is reduced to borrowing from friends and family until it's all sorted out. 

I'd say it was especially important if you are not married. At least I can 'prove' I'm married to DH (and have been for a very long time) - but we have LPA as well. 

And as time goes by, we watched FiL lose 'capacity' to deal with financial matters over the years. Didn't matter, because MiL always did it all anyway, but all the accounts were joint accounts. IF the bank had realised that he'd lost capacity, they should - as in the situation above - have frozen the accounts and forced MiL to apply for Deputyship. He flatly refused to consider LPA, but it was one of the first things MiL did after he died! 

alcachofa

Mm, that's how I'd understood it. Cheers. I think my hesitation is that I don't see more advice about it - definitely seems less prominently talked about that wills and Life Ins. but seemingly every bit as important.

comeandgo

alcachofa said:

Mm, that's how I'd understood it. Cheers. I think my hesitation is that I don't see more advice about it - definitely seems less prominently talked about that wills and Life Ins. but seemingly every bit as important.

It is very important and I agree it’s not discussed enough.  Many people think the next of kin can make decisions when loved one has no capacity but it’s not true.  Many people are stuck in hospital wards waiting for the legal parts to be sorted out and it can take months.

FlorayG

You really should have an LPA. Sadly I can't because I have nobody trustworthy enough to appoint. I think that's the only valid reason for NOT having one

Jude57

comeandgo said:

alcachofa said:

Mm, that's how I'd understood it. Cheers. I think my hesitation is that I don't see more advice about it - definitely seems less prominently talked about that wills and Life Ins. but seemingly every bit as important.

It is very important and I agree it’s not discussed enough.  Many people think the next of kin can make decisions when loved one has no capacity but it’s not true.  Many people are stuck in hospital wards waiting for the legal parts to be sorted out and it can take months.

Very true and unfortunately, 'next of kin' has no legal meaning in English law. My late partner was still legally married when he needed serious surgery after we'd been together many years. While on heavy medication he joked with a doctor that I wasn't his wife and unfortunately for us, that was enough to ensure I was then excluded from all but very basic information about his health. Both his adult sons tried to have me included but the NHS wasn't at all willing to bend the rules. My late partner didn't want an LPA and unfortunately his reluctance left me in legal and financial limbo at a time when I, frankly, had enough to worry about.

RAS

Young parent with sole responsibility for child because of ex's substance misuse (supervised access only when not impaired).

Enough income to employ a nanny. Major head injury from car accident. No-one could pay the nanny, buy food, make financial decisions etc until an attorney was appointed by the court. Absolute mess.

Happened IRL.