We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
power of attorney
Options
inholms
Posts: 53 Forumite
Both of my parents are in their late eighties and are now finding difficult to handle their finacial affairs.They both have a number of bank accounts and investments. They recently asked me to take over the running of their affairs. I decided the first thing to do was to have a Power of Attorney document, so I contacted a local Solisitor, expecting to pay about £100, they told me that due to a recent change in the law this is no longer possible. The Government have (it seems secretly) introduced a new system. There are now two types of attorney, one for finance and another for health etc. You have to have a document for each person and the cost of preparing each one is £750! Plus £120 registration fee for each document! This has been confirmed by another Solicitor. They say there is no alternative the old Power of Attorney arrangement is no longer legal, Can this be true? This is going to cost me £3480.
Both my
Both my
0
Comments
-
Inholms,
Your post would be better answered if you went on the Silver Savers forum.
There are a number of threads on this issue.
It seems that you are unaware that the documentation can be completed by you, it is not necessary to pay a solicitor. All you will have to do is pay the registration fee.
Here is a link to search engine info on the subject.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=3&oq=power+of+attorney&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRC_enGB217GB217&q=power+of+attorney+uk
Best of fortune.0 -
Many thanks, I will do this. My concern is that like most people this is not something you do every day and it comes as a bit of a shock when you find out something like this. It seems to have been kept very quiet.0
-
Be very aware that you must do this a soon as possible as they both have to be sound in mind before this can be processed.
Regards,
N.Never be afraid to take a profit.
Keep breathing. :eek:
Just because I am surrounded by FOOLS does not make me wise. :j0 -
Good advice, many thanks.0
-
Both of my parents are in their late eighties and are now finding difficult to handle their finacial affairs.They both have a number of bank accounts and investments. They recently asked me to take over the running of their affairs. I decided the first thing to do was to have a Power of Attorney document, so I contacted a local Solisitor, expecting to pay about £100, they told me that due to a recent change in the law this is no longer possible. The Government have (it seems secretly) introduced a new system. There are now two types of attorney, one for finance and another for health etc. You have to have a document for each person and the cost of preparing each one is £750! Plus £120 registration fee for each document! This has been confirmed by another Solicitor. They say there is no alternative the old Power of Attorney arrangement is no longer legal, Can this be true? This is going to cost me £3480.
Both my
To be a little picky, it's not going to cost YOU £3480 - it's your parents who will pay, though you may have to fund it up front and reclaim it from them later.
But the DIY route costs nothing to prepare, £120 a POA to register. If you get a professional (rather than a friend or neighbour - perfectly valid if they will do it) to certify they are of sound mind then there will be a fee there, but that's it.
Then prepare for the horrors of banks registering it.....0 -
You don't need a solicitor to do it.
You can download the forms yourself from the Office of Public Guardian website, complete them yourself and pay the required fee to the OPG.
I did this for my mother, and because my income didn't meet the minimum level, had to pay no fee. The fees are scaled according to your income, but you have to provide proof if you claim an exemption. I had no problems apart from forgetting to send a covering form to them for each application - once this was done, I received the completed PoAs within a month
It's a fair amount of reading and form-filling, but better than paying four sets of £750 to a solicitor.0 -
Our family doctor certified the 'of sound mind' part without charging any fee, but this may vary throughout the country.
"Then prepare for the horrors of banks registering it....."
I haven't got this far - tell us more.0 -
Our family doctor certified the 'of sound mind' part without charging any fee, but this may vary throughout the country.
"Then prepare for the horrors of banks registering it....."
I haven't got this far - tell us more.
Have a browse through the silver savers section - there's some horror stories there.
By the time you have the validated PoA in your hands you will know far more about it and the process than the average bank advisor.0 -
Both of my parents are in their late eighties and are now finding difficult to handle their financial affairs.They both have a number of bank accounts and investments. They recently asked me to take over the running of their affairs. I decided the first thing to do was to have a Power of Attorney document, so I contacted a local Solicitor, expecting to pay about £100, they told me that due to a recent change in the law this is no longer possible. The Government have (it seems secretly) introduced a new system. There are now two types of attorney, one for finance and another for health etc. You have to have a document for each person and the cost of preparing each one is £750! Plus £120 registration fee for each document! This has been confirmed by another Solicitor. They say there is no alternative the old Power of Attorney arrangement is no longer legal, Can this be true? This is going to cost me £3480.
Both my
Power of Attorney changed a couple of years ago. There was no secrecy. It just happens that, unless you have reason to be involved in these things, you wouldn't have been aware of it.
Suggestion for your parents: Use one bank account for the household bills and get all of them on to direct debit. That way it all happens automatically, there's nothing that needs 'handling'. This is what DH and I do, and it's fantastic - it all happens like clockwork and we never give it a thought, whether we're in hospital or on holiday, nothing needs to be done by us.
Not sure why they need 'several' bank accounts, but I'd suggest, rather than handing all this over to someone else to 'handle', while they still can just close some of them down. IMHO you only need: current account to receive pensions (each), one joint account, and one savings account (each). The rest can go into investments, which don't need much attention at all. Job done.[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
Before I found wisdom, I became old.0 -
Quite normal to have several bank accounts to spread the savings and keep them safe.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings#safe0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177K Life & Family
- 257.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards