A Power of Attorney lets someone you trust make financial and welfare decisions for you if you ever cannot make them yourself. Without one, your family has no automatic authority, and the only route left is a Sheriff Court Guardianship Order.
We meet you at home, explain the difference between Continuing and Welfare Power of Attorney in plain terms, and arrange for both to be prepared and registered correctly with the Office of the Public Guardian, working with our specialist legal partners.
Book a free consultation →A client losing capacity without a Power of Attorney in place is one of the more urgent cases we see. Through our legal partners we can usually move quickly on preparation and registration, and keep you in the loop the whole way.
Discuss a referral →Power of Attorney is granted under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. It appoints someone, your attorney, to act on your behalf if you become unable to make decisions yourself, whether through illness, injury or a condition like dementia. It only works if it is set up before you need it: once capacity is lost, it is too late to grant one.
A Continuing Power of Attorney covers financial affairs: bank accounts, bills, property, investments, tax. A Welfare Power of Attorney covers personal decisions: medical treatment, care arrangements, day-to-day living. Scotland's system is separate from the Lasting Power of Attorney used in England and Wales, with its own document, its own certification requirements, and its own registration body.
Both must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) before they take effect. An unregistered document has no legal force, however carefully it was drafted.
"Mrs B and her husband ran a small guesthouse together. After a fall left her briefly unable to make decisions, he found he couldn't access their joint business account: the bank needed proof of authority he simply didn't have. Once she recovered, we arranged Continuing and Welfare Powers of Attorney for each of them, naming the other as attorney and her sister as a backup. When it happened again two years later, the guesthouse never missed a payment."
Continuing Power of Attorney covers financial decisions: bank accounts, bills, property, investments. Welfare Power of Attorney covers personal decisions: medical treatment, care arrangements, where you live. Most people grant both together, often naming the same person as attorney for each, sometimes different people.
Your family gets no automatic authority to act for you, however close they are. They would need to apply to the Sheriff Court for a Guardianship Order, which takes months, costs considerably more than setting up a Power of Attorney, and requires annual reports to the Office of the Public Guardian for as long as the Guardianship lasts.
Only while you still have the capacity to understand what you are signing. A solicitor or GP has to certify this at the time. That is why it is worth acting soon after a diagnosis rather than waiting.