LPAS for company directors & partnerships

Are you involved in a business as a partner or company director? Have you thought about what would happen to your business if you became unable to make decisions because of an accident or unexpected illness? What if creditors couldn’t be paid or a lease couldn’t be signed? Would your business be crippled by inactivity? Worse still, could creditors pursue personal assets such as your home? Our team explains what a Lasting Power of Attorney can do to help protect your business.

The way to protect your business and your personal assets is by the key members making powers of attorney. A power of attorney is a document whereby you appoint someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf in the event that you cannot make decisions yourself, for instance if you are out of the country or if you are ill.

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a special type of power of attorney which continues even if the person making it loses mental capacity. This makes it extremely useful to protect your business against the risk of someone becoming mentally incapacitated by a sudden event such as an accident or a stroke.

Your attorneys cannot use the LPA to make business decisions for you until the LPA is registered with the Court of Protection. This is to safeguard you against decisions being made without your knowledge. If your circumstances change, you can revoke your LPA and make a new one.

When the key members of a business do not have LPAs in place, the court has to appoint a deputy to make management decisions on behalf of the incapacitated person. This process takes several months, during which time many businesses struggle to survive and go into liquidation. Would yours?

If you would like more information about protecting your business and/or personal affairs through a LPA, please contact us on 01908 689317 or email  dkulczykowska@geoffreyleaver.com

Dagmara Kulczykowska | Partner