Power of Attorney - what happens next

downshifter

So it's maybe time to action the enduring power of attorney as aged parent needs a bit of help - but what happens in practice? If I ring the electricity company and say please send me his bills what sort of proof that I'm his offspring do I need? How will the bank know that I have POA and let me access his account to pay for his things? And on his good days, will he still be able to do these things or will it all have been passed over to me? He wants to do stuff himself mostly but sometimes needs someone else to take over if it gets confusing, or to put it right when things go wrong!

I can find plenty of info about how to set it up legally but not how it works on a day to day basis. Grateful for any help. Thanks.

verynewmoneysaver

I had power of attorney for my parents. It's there for when they can't manage. When I had to talk about Dad's electric bill they just asked for him to give verbal permission. Your parent can still manage his affairs but it will be easier for you to take over when necessary. You will have to take the forms in to show the bank when he can't manage.

ThemeOne

I know you're probably not meant to do it, but I found with my father it was easy to set up online accounts for utilities, bank etc in his name and look after them like that, so even though I had the Power of Attorney and got it activated, I never actually used it.

Once I got the online bank account, I put all the bills on direct debit (which they hadn't been before) so from then on everything more or less took care of itself.

I told my father what I was doing, and he was fine with it - relieved I think.

All I would add about the POA is don't get a solicitor to activate it, unless you're seriously time poor, as they charge a lot and it's not that difficult a job to do yourself.

Keep_pedalling

As far as his bank is concerned you should make an appointment with a local branch, and take in the original, or certified copy, of the registered LPA document and ID to prove who you are. They can then set you up as an authorised user for his account.

I have done this with my mother. Initially this was set up so that both of us could use the account, each with our own cards, but in the last year she has been unable to manage anything financially herself and has had to move into a care home, so I had to go back to the bank to both inform the bank of her change of address and to get the arrangement changed, so I am now the only person who can access her account, and all correspondence now comes to me.

Unless you live miles away from your father I would not get any of his utility bills transfered to you at this stage, make sure his payments are moved to DD. if you still need to do this you will need to write to them including a certified copy of his LPA.

Keep_pedalling

ThemeOne wrote: »

I know you're probably not meant to do it, but I found with my father it was easy to set up online accounts for utilities, bank etc in his name and look after them like that, so even though I had the Power of Attorney and got it activated, I never actually used it.

Once I got the online bank account, I put all the bills on direct debit (which they hadn't been before) so from then on everything more or less took care of itself.

I told my father what I was doing, and he was fine with it - relieved I think.

All I would add about the POA is don't get a solicitor to activate it, unless you're seriously time poor, as they charge a lot and it's not that difficult a job to do yourself.

Seems very silly to go to the trouble of getting LPAs put in place, then bypass that witha dodgy set up like that.

Mav6215

I found most banks helpful when registering my PoA with them by making an appointment and taking the document with me for them to make a copy.

The DWP accepted a certified copy (I would never send the original by post) and returned it within a few days.

Some companies like my mother's utility and even the local council accepted a pfd file sent by email.

ThemeOne

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Seems very silly to go to the trouble of getting LPAs put in place, then bypass that witha dodgy set up like that.

With the benefit of hindsight I probably wouldn't have bothered activating the POA, but at the time thought I might need it - I was assuming my father would last longer than he actually did.

If I remember correctly, registering the POA myself cost £110, and the solicitor wanted about £450 for doing it.

Keep_pedalling

ThemeOne wrote: »

With the benefit of hindsight I probably wouldn't have bothered activating the POA, but at the time thought I might need it - I was assuming my father would last longer than he actually did.

If I remember correctly, registering the POA myself cost £110, and the solicitor wanted about £450 for doing it.

It is always wise to register the LPA as that takes around 8 weeks otherwise, which is not much use if you go from being fit and healthy to lying in a coma after a stroke or accident. We are in our early 60s and have had register POAs in place for a good few years just in case either of us is struck down unexpectedly.

badmemory

In practical terms I would definitely agree that the POA should be registered as a matter of course (mine has been). Even with my mother's being already being registered I had to fund the first 2 months in a care home before I could get access to fund them with her own money. If the POA hadn't been completely in place that could have been at least 4 months, not everyone is able to deal with that.

If you don't trust your attorney enough to register the POA (as in you think they will use it prematurely or even unnecessarily) then you should look for another attorney - not fail to register it.

Re the DWP - an appointment made with the local Job Centre should get the POA copied and signed (authenticated) by them free to send on to the DWP. If you get really lucky they will return it to you and then you have a freebie copy that can be posted elsewhere whilst you stick like glue to the original.

Regarding the practicalities, the banks vary in the way they deal with POAs. I found Barclays very good (once they had sent off the missing page 11 as they only sent a copy of one of the 2 page 11s). Halifax was a bit drawn out because you need to see one of a specific team and they seem to move between branches so unlike Barclays you can't just drop in. Skipton Building society good. Nationwide BS excellent BUT with a POA you can't do it online which can become a real pain if you have to go in and actually get a cheque rather than just transferring money over. The local authority and energy provider (much to my surprise) were an absolute doddle.

I think the halfway house thing must be much harder to sort than the 'can no longer deal with any of it' that I eventually had to deal with. Although I had been speaking to energy providers for a couple of years. Many of a certain age do not realise that standard does not mean normal but actually means expensive/high rate ( I have friends in their early 70s that think this way - still working on that). It can be hard work but when you have it all underway you can have the satisfaction of having done the best you could for your parent. It can't get much better than that.

Biggles

To begin with, you need to be clear whether it's an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) or the newer Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). You do say EPA but many of the replies are referring to the LPA.

The key difference is that an LPA can only be used after registering it with the Public Guardian's Office. With an EPA, you can begin using it at any time as it stands and only have to register it when the donor loses their 'mental capacity'.

Keep_pedalling

Biggles wrote: »

To begin with, you need to be clear whether it's an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) or the newer Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). You do say EPA but many of the replies are referring to the LPA.

The key difference is that an LPA can only be used after registering it with the Public Guardian's Office. With an EPA, you can begin using it at any time as it stands and only have to register it when the donor loses their 'mental capacity'.

If it really is a EPA then,assuming the donor still has the mental capacity, best to start again with an LPA. Not all financial organisations are happy to accept an unregistered EPA and it can't be registered until the donor has lost capacity.