Applying for Power of Attorney over finances

KerryWorcester

Apologies for putting this enquiry here but I am new to the site.

I have POA over my mother's affairs incase she is not 'of sound mind or body'. But this does not mean I can control her financial affairs, currently in her name. She wants me to but I am not sure how to proceed with this. Any advice appreciated please?!

Savvy_Sue

Welcome to the boards, Kerry

By the sound of it, your mother prepared a Power of Attorney, but this has not yet been registered at the Court of Protection. If it's one of the 'old' ones then registering it will be quite simple. If it's a 'new' (Lasting Power of Attorney) one it's more complicated. I'm no expert but one will be along soon if I've got that wrong!

If you tell us when your mother prepared the PoA we'll know which kind it is!

There are lots of links from the page I've linked to, you probably need to click around a bit to find the forms you need.

sloughflint

KerryWorcester wrote: »

Apologies for putting this enquiry here but I am new to the site.

I have POA over my mother's affairs incase she is not 'of sound mind or body'. But this does not mean I can control her financial affairs, currently in her name. She wants me to but I am not sure how to proceed with this. Any advice appreciated please?!

If I understand your post correctly, your mother is still of sound mind but she would like you to help out with her financial affairs or even take over.

In that case you just need to approach all the financial institutions with your POA documentation so that they can record that you are an attorney.Different places do things differently.For example you may be given your own card/chequebook.

Just bear in mind that if you have the older style POA (Enduring Power of Attorney) and your mother became mentally incapable to the point of being unable to make her own financial decisions then at that point you would need to register the POA at the Court of Protection. Until then no need.

If it is a newer style LPA then it already has been registered at the [strike]COP[/strike] OPG:

An LPA is a legal document that you (the Donor) make using a special form. It allows you to choose someone now (the Attorney) that you trust to make decisions on your behalf about things such as your property and affairs or personal welfare at a time in the future when you no longer wish to make those decisions or you may lack the mental capacity to make those decisions yourself.
An LPA can only be used after it is registered with the OPG.

Errata

An old style POA can be registered but this doesn't prevent a person managing their own affairs until the point when things become difficult, when the Attorney can step in immediately and manage them.

sloughflint

Errata wrote: »

An old style POA can be registered

Is that so? Is that a recent thing since LPA's came into force?
I thought assets were frozen whilst registration takes place so was hoping that would never be a necessity.



The only thing I could see on the website was:

However if you have an unregistered EPA, it can still be used and your Attorney will still need to register it with the OPG if they have reason to believe you are, or are becoming, mentally incapable in the future.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before it can be used. An unregistered LPA will not give the Attorney any legal powers to make a decision for the Donor. The Donor can register the LPA while they have capacity, or the Attorney can apply to register the LPA at any time.
An Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) must be registered when the Donor is losing or has lost the mental capacity to manage their own affairs.

Errata

Just to clarify with a case study:

An EPA is drawn up but not registered
The appointee can manage day to day financial affairs, but feels they cannot manage all the ins and outs, do's and don'ts of selling their home - a complex process at the best of times.
The EPA is registered and the Attorney deals with the sale of the property.
The appointee is still able to understand and pay day to day bills - rent, milkman, utilities etc and will continue to do so until they reach the point when they can't - this is when the Attorney starts to manage all the appointee's financial affairs. They can do this immediately as the EPA is already registered, which saves time and removes the stressful waiting period for both appointee and attorney.

I hope this clarifies things.

sloughflint

This has posed another question in my mind. Is simple unregistered EPA not good enough for a house sale?

monkeyspanner

My wife used an unregistered EPA to handle a property sale for her mum with no problems being raised by Solicitor, Estate agent or banks. This was prior to new LPA rules coming into force, not sure if that made a difference.

Errata

My solicitor advised me to register it so that nobody could query it and hold up the sale of the property.
As with arranging a POA before it's too late, registering it when everything and everyone was feeling cool, calm and collected seemed sensible.

sloughflint

Errata wrote: »

My solicitor advised me to register it so that nobody could query it and hold up the sale of the property.
As with arranging a POA before it's too late, registering it when everything and everyone was feeling cool, calm and collected seemed sensible.

I take it my impression that assets are frozen until registration has taken place must be incorrect then?
If so, it does seem sensible apart from the non MSE aspect ( registration fee which might never be needed if mental faculties maintained).

Errata

sloughflint wrote: »

I take it my impression that assets are frozen until registration has taken place must be incorrect then?
If so, it does seem sensible apart from the non MSE aspect ( registration fee which might never be needed if mental faculties maintained).

Water under the bridge now that form of POA no longer exists. The moneysaving aspect wasn't a consideration; the cost as a proportion of the estate was infinitesimal.