Power of Attorney

kajman

Along with my two sisters I have a registered Power of Attorney for my parents. My parents' solicitor set this up a couple of years ago.

They are both elderly and cannot get out of the house or use the computer any more and they have agreed to us taking over the financial affairs now. When the POA was registered I was sent a "Notice of registration of a Lasting Power of Attorney" (property and financial affairs)" for each of them. It contains only the donor's names and the attorneys names, but no addresses or any other details.
Is that all I need to take to the bank or is there a longer legal document that I need to get from the solicitor or apply for?

Thanks

Primrose

Afraid I can,t answer because the latest Lasting Power of Attorney forms show the addresses or all parties concerned and I suspect you need to produce this document rather than the Notice of Registration document.
You could always try asking the original solicitor who set it up or possibly the Office of the Public Guardian

Incidentally if all three of you are acting for your parents you may need at some point to individually produce your own copies of these documents and I suggest you make sure you use a "certified copy". This is a copy which has an ink stamp imprinted on it by a solicitor rather than an ordinary photocopied version.

It may not be essential but some years ago when I had P of A for my elderly parents I found a couple of institutions wouldn,t accept a photocopy of the document which hadn't,t been "certified"

Be prepared that some institutions(especially banks) have staff who are not properly trained in how a P of A should operate. If you have problems go straight to the bank manager rather than dealing with counter staff . Also never send an original P Of A document by ordinary mail if you can't deal with the institution in person. . Always use a registered post. Institutions can be very careless in how these documents are handled as I found to my cost.

If you Google Power of Attorney there is a government website which gives a lot of answers which you may find helpful.

kajman

Thanks for that. I will write to the solicitor who set this up. I'm not sure who it was but I know which firm my parents used.

Keep_pedalling

kajman wrote: »

Thanks for that. I will write to the solicitor who set this up. I'm not sure who it was but I know which firm my parents used.

They should be ably to give you the original document, but get them to provide you with a couple of certified copies as well.

kkgree1

You will need certified copies of the original power of attorney document to present to banks and other financial institutions.

It is useful to get the solicitor to provide extra copies but it is also possible for the "donor" (i.e. your parent) to certify a copy themselves. You have to use the correct wording on each page, found here: https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/certify

As others have mentioned, please don't send the original unless you have to and only do so by special delivery. We've had a number of certified copies lost by institutions and we are lucky that my mother-in-law is still able to certify extra copies. I write out the wording and she signs & dates each page for ease.

martinthebandit

You will find that your bank is much more experienced with this than you are, as a first step it would probably be worth making an appointment with them and asking for their advice regarding what exactly your going to need to produce, they were happy to take any copies of original documents there and then as well.

Incidentally while both me and my brother had power of attorney for my dad the bank was happy to deal with just me.