Power of Attorney Alongside Travel Insurance
Lessons should be learned from the recent air traffic crisis, and that much of the personal disruption could have been avoided if people had planned ahead with a Power of Attorney.
Most people know at least one person who was affected, the common problem being finding the cost to fund alternative routes home or funding a few more days until flights resumed. Many people were relying on credit cards but if these were up to their limits or – due to the crisis – a payment had been missed, they would be of little help. Families trying to help those stranded encountered problems when trying to pay money into other people’s accounts since banks are in fear of fraud and cannot breach the Data Protection Act, so many travellers have been in real difficulty.
Since nobody is entitled to deal with anyone else’s affairs the firm is advocating that travellers consider utilising a Power of Attorney in the same way they might consider Travel Insurance, thereby allowing someone they trust access to their accounts and avoiding matters piling up at home such as bills, house sales and business matters in the case of future delays.
The recent chaos provides a salient warning to travel plans of the future. The solution in many cases would have been to have a Power of Attorney in place to cover these one-off emergencies. This allows you to appoint at least one other person to deal with your financial affairs and property. It can also be used by business owners to ensure that their business can continue to run smoothly in their absence or by homeowners going through a remortgage, sale or purchase. You can restrict what your attorneys can do for you, therefore if you run a business, you may wish to appoint one attorney to deal with your business and another to deal with your personal affairs. The best aspect of a Power of Attorney, is that you are still in full control of your affairs, so when you return you can continue where your attorneys left off.
There are different types of Power of Attorneys available, the three most common types being a General Power of Attorney, a Specific Power of Attorney and a Lasting Power of Attorney. The first two are only valid if applicants have the mental capacity to oversee what their attorney(s) are doing for them. Therefore to provide for long-term needs, a Lasting Power of Attorney is more appropriate as this can continue when someone might lose their mental capacity.
For further details e-mail Melanie Cotterill or telephone her on 01752 292244
