Q: I have a business, but I want to go travelling for three months next year, I am not sure who I can delegate business related decisions to. I have heard an LPA might be useful, but my wife, who would otherwise be my chosen attorney, will be on holiday with me. What can I do?
A: You can have two lasting powers of attorney (LPA) for your property and finances, one in relation to your business and the other in relation to your personal assets. The type of LPA you have, and the type of appointment, is dependant on the kind of business you run. A business-related LPA may also be useful for the long-term, in case you develop a long-term illness or lose mental capacity.
If you are a sole trader, your business is unlikely to have a separate legal entity from you. You could therefore appoint an attorney under an LPA for your business and they could continue running the same if you lost capacity.
If you are in a partnership you will need to refer to the partnership agreement, which may already include provisions to adequately cover the running of the business if you lose capacity, so rendering a business LPA unnecessary.
If you are a director of a company, you should check the company’s articles of association. If you are the sole director you may not have included a provision regarding the continuity of the business should you lose capacity, in which case you may benefit from a business LPA. However, if there are multiple directors involved, it is worth checking over the articles and speaking to a solicitor to ensure provisions are in place that prevent one director’s incapacity from impacting the running of the business as a whole.
If you intend to make an LPA for your business and personal assets it is important to define the extent of your attorney’s authority in each LPA, so that they do not find themselves in conflict with one another.
This question has been answered by Ulia Choudhry, a Partner with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194
