How to Protect Your Aged Parents While You’re Living Abroad

If you’re living overseas, and you’re worried about your parents back home, then you might take a few legal precautions to protect them and their estates. There are a number of considerations you might wish to make. Let’s run through a few of them.

 

Establish a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

Your parents might have reached a stage in life at which they’re no longer capable of managing their own affairs to a standard that they’re satisfied with. In this case, it can be very useful to set up a Lasting Power of Attorney. 

This is a legal document that grants an appointed person (called an attorney) to make decisions on behalf of your parents. There are two kinds of LPA to think about. One relates to healthcare decisions, and the other is for finances. You can, however, roll both of these documents into a single agreement.

Setting this up requires that you fill in the right forms, which you can download from the Office of the Public Guardian. Your parents will need a witness for the signature of your parents, the ‘certificate provider’, and the person assuming the power of attorney. In most cases, the ‘certificate provider’ is a trusted person, like a solicitor, doctor, or someone known to your parents. 

 

Set Up a Trust for Asset Management

If your parents have assets they’d like to safeguard, then these might be put into a trust so that they can later be managed. Trusts come in many different types. There are Bare trusts, whose beneficiaries can claim the assets when they turn 18. Then there are ‘interest in possession’ trusts, which involve the beneficiaries earning an income from the trust over time. There are discretionary trusts, which grant the trustees the power to decide how to divide the estate later on. Finally, there are charitable trusts, which are designed for charitable donations. These are typically more complicated, but they confer tax advantages.

 

Ensure Comprehensive Health and Social Care Plans

If your parents require health and social care while you’re out of the country, then you’ll want to set these up well in advance. This might mean relying on the National Health Service, or paying for a private healthcare provider. The previous government’s plan to reform the world of social care has been shelved, albeit temporarily, by the Labour administration. 

 

Regularly Review and Update Legal Documents

The legal documents you and your parents create should be regularly updated as their life circumstances change. In some cases, changes to the law can necessitate that a document be updated. A good legal professional specialising in family law should be able to advise you of when changes may be necessary. You can arrange to be notified when you come to create the document in the first place.

 

Utilise Technology for Remote Monitoring and Communication

Finally, it’s worth dwelling on the fact that the world has been made smaller by the advent of high-speed broadband, and smart devices that monitor your parent’s health. You can stay connected via Skype, WhatApp, Zoom and other software. You might even find specialised devices that bundle these things into a simple, easy-to-use package.