New power of attorney guide

Honey_Bear

I got the original paperwork to do Enduring Powers of Attorney years ago for myself after both my parents became incapacitated and their affairs were a nightmare to sort out when they became very ill. My partner and I aren't married, and I wanted to make sure he could make decisions on my behalf if necessary, rather than my brothers, neither of whom are trustworthy. The paperwork was so complicated I put them in the filing cabinet for 15 years and worried about the situation rather than doing anything about it.

Last year I hauled out the paperwork, tried to understand it, gave up, read MSE Martin's advice :money:and found this thread - thank goodness. One of the reasons LPAs are rejected is because people use out of date forms - first lesson learned, mine were a decade out of date.

Following all of the excellent information on here I made out my Finance and Property LPA and appointed OH as my Attorney and two other people as Replacements, in case anything happens to both of us at the same time. That one is registered and now that I'm relatively confident I know what's needed I'm doing the Health and Welfare one. It's slightly more complicated because I had to draw up a Living Will for one of my Replacements because he said he wouldn't be willing to act for me unless he knew exactly what my wishes were if I were unable to communcicate.

I went to Stap13s and had a stamp made which gives the wording for self-certifying copies, and got the original validated LPA photocopied at the library five times. I've certified all five of them so that in the event of either OH or the Replacements needing valid paperwork it's all ready to roll in my filing cabinet with spares for emergencies.

When I've got my Health and Welfare one registered and certified I'm going to help OH do both of his so that we're both covered.

Because I'm cash-poor I got the reduced registration rate. Overall, the whole exercise, including postage, will have cost me roughly £100, which is a darn sight cheaper than the solicitors' quotes I've seen on here at £600, or unqualified salesmen working for legal agencies who charge £180 for the two. (I had someone quote that figure to me and during our discussion it became clear that he didn't actually know as much as I'd discovered about some of the aspects of registration!) I understand the whole process a lot better having done it for myself and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.

Thank you so much to everyone who's ever contributed to this thread, because without it I'd have really struggled to understand the ramifications of some of the decisions I needed to take when drawing up the documentation.

I heartily recommend doing it.

buglawton

Job centres will certify copies of LPAs and other things for free - you don’t have to be unemployed.

Primrose

Yes, it's a helpful thread. I completed the forms for myself and my husband and got them registered but did find the exercise a little overwhelming because if you read all the notes, you worry whether any specific expressed wishes may be rejected as being out of order.
They're now locked away in our filing cabinet and certified copies have been given to our attorneys.


I must confess I have more peace of mind now the exercise has been completed, especially having heard of two examples in our circle of acquaintances where nothings has been done and dementia and ill health are now causing families severe stress and difficulties.


Don't forget, when you've got this exercise completed, to keep a written record of all your bank accounts, etc with account numbers, addresses, phone numbers, . + NHS numbers, National Insurance number, Life insurance policies, etc. and store them with your PoA paperwork so that if needed, your attorneys have access to everything they need.

Tulsi

Hi,

My husband's aunt asked him to be power of attorney for her as he's her only relative, but he lives 2 hours away from her. Does anyone have experience of this (being P of A but not local), and know that it's manageable, or would it be better to get a joint attorney who is local to her (a friend of his aunts, but not someone he really knows)?

Thanks

Primrose

It,s always better to have a local attorney if possible because when you start acting for somebody you will most certainly have to go into their local bank with your ID documents and the Power of attorney document to identify yourself.
However many banks have branches around the country and it's probably possible to go into another branch for this process to take place although it may take a little longer of course.

I acted as P of A for my parents who lived 100 miles and a two hour journey away and it mostly worked well. The few problems which happened were because banking and other financial institution staff were not sufficiently well educated in knowing how these powers were supposed to work.

The sensible thing is to set up as many bills as possible, (fuel, Council tax, phone etc ) by direct debit so things happen automatically then managing finances from a distance isno problem, especially as so many banking activities can be done over the internet.

It's important to set up a Health & Welfare P of A too. In that case, one of the things to be considered and for the aunt to document is where she would like to be located if she needs to go into a Care home, ie near where she lives, or closer to where her nephew lives (unless there,s a second local attorney) so that her health issues can be more easily managed with local health agencies and doctors., nd of course so that she can be regularly visited to check that all is well with her.

So make sure that if there are two attorneys and one is local to the aunt that the document is drawn up for them to act jointly and severally rather than jointly. In the former case, either can then act separately. If they act jointly, every single cheque or letter written will require both signatures and it will become a nightmare managing the administration from a distance.

badmemory

Personally I think a lot of this will depend on what is likely to need doing. Money management can mostly be done online. One of her friends is as likely to be using a POA unless she has a much younger friend prepared to do it. An attorney has to be someone you can have total trust in.


ETA what Primrose said!

Honey_Bear

One local and one further away is a better mix than just one or the other, and if they're both trustworthy they should be allowed to act Jointly and Severally. If they can't be trusted they shouldn't hold power of attorney for anyone.


The other advantage is that neither will have to take 100% of the responsibility for difficult decisions. If there are any it's much easier if the POA holder has someone else who understands the situation that they can talk things through with. It's why I have two replacements, one local and one further away, and it's the long-distance one who knows about my finances. The local one knows me very well. (They would only become involved if my OH were incapacitated.)



We've never even met the long distance one, although we've talked on the 'phone. He refused point blank to be my attorney until I produced a living will (Advance Directive in the jargon) so that he understood exactly what my wishes were in the event of me being unable to speak for myself for any reason. He made me keep re-drafting it until he was certain it would be clear to any medical bods who might, at a point in the future, have to act on the contents as well.



It was an interesting thing to have to do because it made me think through all of the things I felt strongly about and make the decisions now, while it isn't needed. Much easier. Just make sure it's dated prior to the POA or there would be problems when it's used.

Primrose

Honey_Bear wrote: »

We've never even met the long distance one, although we've talked on the 'phone. He refused point blank to be my attorney until I produced a living will (Advance Directive in the jargon) so that he understood exactly what my wishes were in the event of me being unable to speak for myself for any reason. He made me keep re-drafting it until he was certain it would be clear to any medical bods who might, at a point in the future, have to act on the contents as well.



It was an interesting thing to have to do because it made me think through all of the things I felt strongly about and make the decisions now, while it isn't needed. Much easier. Just make sure it's dated prior to the POA or there would be problems when it's used.

That's an interesting concept - an attorney you have never met.


Our second and third attorneys do not know each other at the time we put our P of A together but we did arrange a meeting between us all subsequently so that the ice was broken and they did have a chance to meet each other. Hopefully it will be many years, and even better, not at all that they ever have to do business together on our behalf (as my spouse and I have also listed each other as attorneys) but we thought it was a useful thing to do.

Honey_Bear

Primrose wrote: »

That's an interesting concept - an attorney you have never met.

I've never heard of this arrangement either before but he's aware of some circumstances that no-one other than my OH knows about and I don't want to share that information with most people I know. He acts in a professional capacity for me already, and his firm and my family have a connection going back three generations. I trust him completely and because of the Living Will and the wording on the LPA he knows my wishes, so I've got two Replacements, who I know would be careful and utterly trustworthy.


OH has four replacements, one of whom he's never met but knows about his affairs, one is his oldest friend who knows absolutely nothing about them but all about him, one is local who is utterly trustworthy but would go into a complete meltdown if he had to act on his own and one is someone he regards as his best friend but is older than him and not in the best of health.



Replacements are straightforward if you have family you trust, but neither of us is in that position and that's the reason we've both had to be very creative about our Replacements.

cherry76

Thinking whether to replace enduring power of attorney with the lasting power of attorney. With enduring power of attorney it will be such a hassle to register once the person loses mental capacity esp relatives to inform as Am not in contact with my relatives since I emigrated here. The issue with the lasting power of attorney if taking the diy route how do you get all the attorneys and witnesses together since they do not live near by. Also can the certificate provider witness the signature of the donor and the other attorneys. Thanks