Power of Attorney Liabilities

finndoodle

Hopefully someone can advise me of the liabilities of an attorney in Scotland.
I am a joint attorney (with 2 others) for care and finance, for a relative who is still alive but has dementia.
Since signing the forms 2 years ago, it has come to my notice there is a substantial credit card debt that is currently being serviced. When the relative dies (and there are no real assets), are the attorneys liable for the debt?
I've been told that CC companies will write off debts that been incurred on care, but this seems unlikely.
Can anyone shed some light on the problem?
Many thanks.

pphillips

You can no longer act under a power of attorney when the person who made the power of attorney is deceased - the power is null and void. It is an executor who administers the estate of the deceased and is responsible for winding up the estate. An executor should not claim liability for the debts of deceased that are greater then the value of the estate.

Keep_pedalling

No attorneys are not personally responsible for the dept, but if a donor has an asset such as a home then the attorney would be responsobe for liquidated the assets to pay off the dept.

In this case it sounds like the donor will die insolvent so their will be nothing to pay any outstanding dept and the creditor will need to write it off.

Your responsibilities as an attorney ends at the point of death, and it then becomes the responsibility of their executors to sort out the estate, but few people would be willing to take that role on for an insolvent estate.

finndoodle

Hmm - thanks for the replies, the three of us are also the executors. The bulk of the debt was incurred before we became attorneys, and the donor's house was sold and the proceeds have largely contributed to the ongoing care.