The Advice Team at local disability charity, Diverse Abilities, is encouraging the Dorset community to create a lasting power of attorney (LPA) to make difficult situations easier for friends or family in the future. 

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a means of keeping control of who would manage your affairs if you could no longer manage them yourself. It is a legal document in which you name a person(s) that you trust and who knows you best to make decisions on your behalf in the event that you lose mental capacity for decision making. 

Elaine Ewing, Advice Team manager at Diverse Abilities, said: “Unfortunately it is a fact that any one of us could have an accident or suffer an illness at any time which could result in physical difficulties or mental health problems. With over 900,000 in the UK living with dementia, we need to think about how we would manage our lives if something happened to us. 

“Most people assume that their family would automatically be able to manage their finances and manage their care needs if they could not do it for themselves, but without a lasting power of attorney in place, this is not possible.”

A previous client of the Advice Team said: “I am very grateful to Diverse Abilities for their help in drawing up a Lasting Power of Attorney for my parents. I had not realised that a solicitor is not always required, and Diverse Abilities helped explain and arrange necessary documentation in a professional and sensitive manner.”

Working with the Advice Team at Diverse Abilities will also save some money. The service charges an affordable fee, which is substantially lower cost than most solicitors with the fees going back into the charity. 

Find out more at diverseabilities.org.uk/advice or call 0300 330 5514 between 9am and 5pm, Monday-Friday.