What Happens If You Don't Set Up an LPA?

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By the team at randallteo.sg

Let's say something happens to you tomorrow. A stroke. An accident. A sudden cognitive decline. You are alive, but you can no longer make decisions for yourself.

Your family wants to help. They want to access your savings to pay for your care, manage your property, make decisions about your treatment. But without an LPA in place, they cannot. Not legally, not immediately.

What happens next is called deputyship. And it is a process most families wish they never had to go through.

What is deputyship?

When someone loses mental capacity without an LPA, a family member who wants to manage their affairs must apply to the court to be appointed as a deputy. This is handled through the Office of the Public Guardian and the Family Justice Courts in Singapore.

It sounds straightforward. It is not.

The reality of the deputyship process

First, there is time. A deputyship application typically takes anywhere from six months to over a year to be granted. During that period, your family may have limited or no access to your bank accounts. Bills still need to be paid. Care still needs to be arranged. The financial and emotional strain on families during this window is very real.

Then there is cost. And this is where it adds up quickly.

And it does not end at approval. A deputy is subject to ongoing court supervision. Annual reports on how the person's affairs have been managed must be submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian. The administrative burden continues for years, sometimes decades.

The contrast is hard to ignore

Setting up an LPA through us at randallteo.sg costs you nothing beyond the government certificate fee. Our assistance with the process comes at no additional charge. The application itself typically comes to around $75 for those who qualify for subsidies, or slightly more otherwise.

Compare that to the thousands of dollars, months of waiting, and ongoing court obligations that come with deputyship. The case for acting early becomes very clear.

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