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An attorney (the person making decisions for you) under a Lasting Power of Attorney for Property and Financial Affairs cannot delegate their authority to someone else unless the Power specifically authorises them to do so.

They can take professional advice, for example, from a financial advisor, but their power does not extend to employing the financial advisor to actively manage the investments unless they have been given the power to do so.

This is the case even if the donor of the power has already got assets under management when the Lasting Power of Attorney starts being used. One of the major banks has a policy that attorneys need to enter into a new agreement for discretionary management when they start acting. If there is no power to delegate this would not be possible and the attorney would need to manage the investments themselves, taking advice from time to time.

It is therefore sensible to include in the instructions section of the Lasting Power of Attorney the following;

‘My Attorneys may transfer my investments into a discretionary management scheme or, if I already had investments in a discretionary management scheme before I lost capacity to make financial decisions, I want that scheme to continue. I understand in both cases that managers of the scheme will make investment decisions and my investments will be held in their names, or the names of their nominees.’

If you would like any further information on this topic, or other matters relating to Powers of Attorney, please contact Kate Mansfield on 01202 755980 or email k.mansfield@laceyssolicitors.co.uk.