No lasting power of attorney: the safeguard clients skip

When people think of estate planning, they think of wills, which take effect only after death. Far fewer think about what happens if they are still alive but no longer able to manage their own affairs, through illness, injury, or the effects of age. Yet that scenario is common, and without preparation it leaves families in a bind precisely when they can least cope with one.

The safeguard for it is a lasting power of attorney, which lets a client choose who would make decisions on their behalf if they lost capacity. Most people have never put one in place. As an introducer, you are well positioned to notice the gap and to point clients toward specialists who can close it.

A lasting power of attorney allows a person, while they still have capacity, to appoint someone they trust to make decisions for them if they later cannot. It can cover financial affairs and, separately, health and care decisions. Without one, if a client loses capacity, their family may have no automatic authority to act, and may have to apply to a court for permission through a slower, costlier process, at a distressing time.

You do not need to explain the mechanics or the different types. What matters is the core message: setting this up in advance keeps decision-making in trusted hands, while leaving it undone hands the problem to a court. That contrast is usually all it takes to make a client take notice.

Certain moments and remarks make a power of attorney especially relevant. Keep an ear out for:

• An ageing client, or one caring for an ageing parent.
• A diagnosis of a serious or progressive illness.
• "Mum's started to get confused, and we can't access her accounts."
• A business owner whose affairs would stall if they were incapacitated.
• Any client reviewing their will, which is a natural moment to consider the living side of planning.

Each of these is a cue that the client, or their relative, would benefit from having this safeguard in place.

A clear, reassuring framing works best: "A will covers what happens after you're gone, but there's a separate safeguard, a lasting power of attorney, that protects you while you're still here, if you were ever unable to make decisions yourself. It's something a specialist can set up, and I'd be glad to introduce you."

You have drawn the distinction that most clients miss and pointed them toward the right help, without advising on how the power should be set up or who should be appointed. Those choices belong to the vetted specialist. You are simply making sure the client knows the safeguard exists and how to obtain it properly.

Because so few people have a lasting power of attorney, this is a gap you will find often once you start looking. Flagging it can spare a family a court process and a great deal of stress at a hard time, and it broadens the client's view of planning from death alone to lifelong protection.

Through the SmartPeer network, introducing the client to vetted specialists also earns you a share of the resulting fee, with members earning 60-70%, while the client gains regulated, professional help. Your role stays fixed: you recognise that the safeguard is missing and you refer. You never set up the power or advise on its terms. By adding the living side of planning to what you listen for, you catch one of the most overlooked and valuable referrals there is.

One of the easiest ways to make this referral is to attach it to a conversation you are already having about wills. When a client is prompted to sort out a will, they are in exactly the right frame of mind to consider the living safeguard too, and the two sit together naturally. Raising both at once feels efficient to the client rather than like an add-on, and it means neither half of the planning is left undone.

You can keep the framing simple: "While you're getting the will sorted, it's the ideal moment to put a power of attorney in place as well, so you're covered both ways." You are not advising on either document; you are simply noting that the two belong together and pointing to a specialist who can handle both. Because timing matters so much here, a power of attorney can only be set up while the client still has capacity, prompting it early is itself a real service. The introducer who remembers to mention the living safeguard alongside the will catches a gap that would otherwise stay open until it was too late to close.