Power of attorney - two people?

Legacy_user

I can't see a suitable section for this question, but Pensions seems the closest:

Does a power of attorney have to appoint a sole person to be the attorney?
Can the attorney be for example two people, acting in agreement with a mandate requiring two signatures?

Does an attorney have to be a person at all - can a trust be an attorney, so that the trustees have the power of action, acting according to the trust deed?

There seem to be so many cases involving alleged dubious action by attorneys, it seems obvious that it would be a useful safeguard for the power to be shared in a way that required joint action.

Mojisola

When my parents set up their POAs, they appointed each other and me.

There were options to say whether both attorneys had to agree to everything or whether we were able to act individually but that was under the old system.

greenglide

Just set up a POA for my mother.

It can be one person, two people or more.

They can be joint (ie both must sign), several (each can sign on their own) or joint on some things and several on others,

You can set them up online - there is a government site (search for online power of attorny) and ignore the ones trying to sell a service.

The site tells you what is an isnt allowed.

Obviously you can go to a solicitor if you want but if you know what you want to set up there is no need.

The attorney can be an organisation (solicitor etc) but the OPG doesnt recommend this because of the cost and in case the solicitor goes away!

System

Many thanks, that's very useful information.