Lasting Power of Attorney - accessing my mum's bank accounts

wishiwasinliverpool

Katsclaws, do I need to pay for these certified copies? A comment on an article I read here http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-2138076/Act-ensure-loved-ones-run-savings.html says they're only provided if the original is lost.

wishiwasinliverpool

grumbler wrote: »

I think the only point of POA is to allow you doing everything without your mum.

I was just wondering if initially they might want her with me. My signature isn't on her books but my sister's is.

You'd've thought she would've applied instead of me, but she and Mum aren't speaking, so it was down to muggins.

Total mess.

ses6jwg

With regard to Santander you will need to visit the branch with a copy of the LPA (which must be stamped by the Office of the public guardian) and 2 forms of ID for yourself such as a passport and driving licence or passport/ driving licence and utility bill/ bank statement.

There is a form to complete and this is sent off with all documentation.

With regard to passbook accounts... I have a feeling that the passbooks must also be produced, or if your sister refuses to hand them over you'll need to produce statements and then register them as lost or stolen, and have new books issued.

gillianlouise

As it is a Lasting power of attorney Mum should not need to attend. You will need ID for each attorney I recommend you make an appointment with which ever bank your mum banks with.
As for access passbook accounts will be acceable by the attorneies once the POA has been registered. if there is only one if 2 is it jointly or separately? When you phone for appointment I recommend you tell them which POA you have they will tell you who needs to attend the branch. Has the POA been registered with the court of protection if so mum will need not go. If mum's mental health declines you may need to apply for a different POA.

dzug1

wishiwasinliverpool wrote: »

. There is another issue, though: with her having four accounts with four ruddy banks what happens if one of them loses the blessed certificate before I have a chance to present it to the next bank?!

You do not let any of them keep the certificate - they will make their own copy of it while you wait. You don't need to pay them

A solicitor will want paying if he certifies a copy - up to £5 a page (there were 28 though the latest version may differ)

The OPG will for a fee provide official copies complete with seals, etc. However I've found that some organisations won't accept these unless also certified by a solicitor.....

alanq

For me (almost) no problems.

Chelsea Building Society (gaining access to existing account)
Took LPA, ID and passbook into branch. They copied LPA + ID and immediately returned the LPA. The passbook was returned by post with me added as attorney.

NatWest (opening a new current account)
Made appointment to see manager. I completed application. He took copies of LPA and ID for mother (I was an existing customer Mum wasn't). Account was opened first in mothers name than LPA added. Only issue was that branch sent off application form with LPA copy to Customer Service Centre which promptly separated the two. They wrote to Mum asking for a copy of LPA and returned LPA to branch because they did not have application form! After that false start all has gone very smoothly.

Beware that some financial institutions have restrictions on what is allowed. e.g. Some only accept POA in case of incapacity (in my case mother is physically frail but still has capacity). Some will not allow online access to accounts by attorneys.

My mother did not accompany me during the registration of LPA.

Don't allow original out of your possession unless for copying while you wait. A certified copy can be replaced (at a price). It's not worth risking the original in the post. I read of one case, I think it was the Halifax, which managed to scan and shred the original document when it was sent to them.

flexrider

wishiwasinliverpool wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. So it's a question of going to the banks with the passbooks and proof of POA. Does Mum need to be with me? If so that's going to be difficult. I work in Bristol.

Problem is, dalesrider, I'm estranged from my sister. Too much bad blood over this business so there'll be no getting together I'm afraid. It's a non-starter.

I did want to put her money into one bank account to make life easier. There is another issue, though: with her having four accounts with four ruddy banks what happens if one of them loses the blessed certificate before I have a chance to present it to the next bank?!

I haven't even got that far and I can feel the stress levels rising! Maybe I'm looking for problems that aren't there, but these newspaper articles are pretty damning.

Dales Rider? i think you mean me haha no worries

The same thing happened to us like they say nothing worst then money or loss of family that brings actually family around sad,but very true
My wife has a sister too and 5 brothers 4 are okay about what had happened but the other brother and sister tried to change the will of her mum when she was dying and contested it however i dont know what she did but i think she got her mum to state who can be her point of attorney by the solictor visiting her and making all the arragnments if she is too frail to travel that would be your best bet to do just explain the sitution and get legal advice, what we did anyway

cheers

wishiwasinliverpool

dalesrider wrote: »

TBH.

Get together with your sister and talk to Santander about it. No matter what advice you get here.
They are the ones you will have to deal with.

Might be a idea to put everything into one account if you can get your mother to agree.

Nah, it was dalesrider who said 'get together' with my 'sister', Flex

Would sooner eat my own leg. It was her idea I asked Mum if I could apply anyway as she wants nothing to do with it (pay back for what she says is me doing one to Bristol and leaving her to look after my parents, untrue) As soon as it's sorted I'll ask the solicitor to make her surrender the bank books. They are all separate accounts and Mum is the only account holder, but my siser is a third party signatory. She can pay the bills on Mum's flat and puts money towards her care (from what I can gather Mum doesn't pay the full fees as she is over a certain age and because of her mental health problem, but I don't know how much she pays) but she can't take out large amounts if needed. That's why I asked Mum to let me apply. I'd read about banks freezing accounts on third party signatories if too much was taken out. If Mum goes back to her own flat she'll need to pay for private care, or if she comes to Bristol to a home that will also be private (when I asked about social care Liverpool and Bristol councils were contradicting one another on who was responsible for paying - I can't be bothered with that road as well!) I favour the latter as it costs me a fortune in petrol to get up there every month. My sister gave me money from one of Mum's accounts to start with to pay for petrol but she can't now. If it hadn't been for a tax rebate I wouldn't be able to go back up for a while. I work but I don't get paid much.

That's another thing: the fees for the LPA need to be paid for and I'm going to have to claim that from Mum's money.

Thank you all for the great advice. You've all been really helpful, I'll put your comments into a word doc and refer to them when the time comes.

gillianlouise, I think LPA is all there is now. Enduring POA no longer exists. There's Court of Protection but the solicitor told me it takes months and costs an arm and a leg. Mum still just about has capacity apart from being confused at times.

With regard to online access, that doesn't matter. I use online for my own accounts as it's simpler, but I was thinking of the ease of paying for care online instead of visiting the banks in person. If for every reason I can't get the accounts into one account I may be able to switch one of them to a cheque account and set up a standing order to pay the home/carers.

nwc389

Hi ,I work in banking and have dealt with registration of POA . You need to make an appointment to register your POA with each bank and you will be able to do this at a branch close to you, you will need to take id for yourself and the poa document. The bank will copy the document , you should not need to leave your original.
The level of service you get will unfortunately depend on the experience of the advisor that you see !
If you don't have the passbooks don't worry - passbooks and cards are lost/misplaced all the time . You should be able to request a new passbook when your poa is registered.
The poa will allow you to operate existing accounts and if need be open any new ones .
Also from a personal experience, re moving your Mum to a care home closer to you , ask the current home if your Mum has a social worker or get contact details of her social services dept as they will be involved in the funding if they are contributing to the cost of the home , you should then be able to discuss how best this could be done.
Hope you get sorted

agrinnall

alanq wrote: »

Beware that some financial institutions have restrictions on what is allowed. e.g. Some only accept POA in case of incapacity (in my case mother is physically frail but still has capacity). Some will not allow online access to accounts by attorneys.

As you've been through the process I'm sure you are right about this, but I would imagine that if a legal challenge was brought by an attorney they would be successful in overturning any such restriction. Surely the point of LPA is that once it has been registered with the OPG the attorney(ies) then have full power to act as if they were the person giving the power of attorney, as long as they act within the law and according to the terms of the LPA - for instance, this is taken from the Property & Financial Affairs LPA:

Your attorneys can make decisions for you
as soon as this lasting power of attorney is registered – both when
you have mental capacity and when you lack mental capacity,
unless you put a restriction in this lasting power of attorney.

I don't see that the bank is in any position to put additional restrictions in place than were already there when the account holder was operating the account themselves.