Well, you don’t buy life insurance for yourself, do you? It is, on the contrary, an unselfish act. You know that, should you unexpectedly die, your loved ones will need cash to make life easy and so you take care of it.

The same considerations apply to a Scottish Power of Attorney. You probably won’t know much about the use that is going to be made of the Power of Attorney. However, you are taking care of the possibility that you will no longer able to deal with your own affairs and you are making sure that your loved ones can, easily, deal with that situation.

Just like life insurance, however, you cannot take the policy out after the event! You have to arrange the policy and pay the premiums beforehand. With a Power of Attorney, of course, it’s a one-off

Just like life insurance, it is a file and forget situation. Hopefully, it will never be needed but the Power of Attorney is sitting there, in your strongbox, just in case.

So what is it that you are taking out the insurance against?

Should you not appoint an Attorney, the alternatives facing your loved ones are not good. First of all, someone has to come forward and offer to take on the task. They then need to see a solicitor and arrange for court action to be taken for, for instance, a guardianship order.

All of this takes a great deal of time because it involves mental health professionals giving opinions and many months will pass before an order will be granted.

All of this takes a great deal of money because court actions, by their nature, are expensive.

Last but not least, the freedom of action of anybody appointed by the court is constrained and limited. Compared to the granting of Power of Attorney it is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I have over 25 years of experience in helping people just like you and if your particular circumstances are straightforward, you should make a will on my website www.myScottishattorney.co.uk  but, if you feel uneasy about this and you want some bespoke assistance, you should  consult me at my office.

I offer a 15 minute free diagnostic interview with no strings attached and during that time we can work through the bones of your situation and come up with a plan. I have well oiled arrangements for telephone or Skype appointments and all you need to do to set one up is to telephone my office on 01955 606060 and ask for a telephone/Skype appointment. Mention the blog, please.