POA queries

7_week_wonder

Good morning everyone,

We have been appointed POA (in Scotland) for an elderly relative. She is in hospital after a stroke and is likely to be there for quite some time. She is mentally fully functioning and is involved in all decisions about her money etc, but she is physically very incapacitated and obviously can''t get to banks and places (she can, however, still sign documents if needed). However to make life easier we are doing a lot of her financial and housekeeping stuff for her so I've got a couple of queries.

We've registered the POA with relative's bank and have got all the paperwork back saying that we have access to her accounts etc. Today I want to close an account that matured yesterday and transfer the money into her current account with a view to opening another fixed term account in a couple of days (all done with relative's discussion and approval). I have all the paperwork, do I just go in to the branch and say "I'd like to transfer this matured bond into this account" and not mention that it is relative's account and that we are acting as POA or do I say I am acting as POA up front?

Also, relative has asked us to sell her car for her - would the garage need to see the POA etc or would it be enough just to get her to sign the vehicle registration document and us to sign any other paperwork.

Any other advice for us? We are keeping records of everything we do and are keeping receipts for the small amounts of money we've spent so far (mainly toiletries etc for whilst she's in hospital)

And also a more general question: is there a "carer's support" thread anywhere? We are just starting down what I think will be a long road of caring for this relative and in addition my elderly mum is starting to need more assistance (alas she is 200 miles away which makes accompanying her to hospital appointments and other things a bit of a logistics nightmare). And it would be good to be able to chat to people/ask advice etc. We are more than happy to do everything, but at times it is a bit overwhelming (if I ever see another bag of hospital washing........!)

Thanks all.

valk_scot

Take the paperwork with you, especially for the bank. Tell them up front. You're 100% legit after all and sometimes the forms vary, you're not signing as the account holder after all. Best to be utterly frank with them and they'll be helpful, they'll have seen it all before many times.

Savvy_Sue

We don't have a carer's thread as such, I don't think. But there's some useful stuff on the over 50s board ... even if you're not, you'd be most welcome there.

7_week_wonder

Thanks folks,

Valk_scot I'll take all the paperwork with me to the bank tomorrow and see how I get on (I couldn't get there today as a meeting over-ran). It's all very new to us, but I guess they deal with things like this all the time.

Savvy_Sue, I'd never ventured to the over 50's board (being a mere spring chicken in my forties;)) but I've just had a quick look and it looks like there is lots of useful stuff there.

Thank again

troubleinparadise

Dear 7 Week Wonder,
You might find the following websites are also useful in this new role you have taken on.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/

http://www.carersuk.org/

Be prepared for the odd staff member at the bank to not understand the processes properly - unfortunately not all are as well versed in POAs etc as they should be.

Good luck!