Power of Attorney

Richsaul

My mother (84) was very independent until taking a tumble which lead to complications. She eventually left hospital after 16 weeks and is now unable to go out. She has no relations or friends locally and although now back home, has a court date for non-payment of council tax, an electricity company threatening to install a pre-payment meter and other final bills. She has funds, but all are in a Building Society account, who do not offer Direct Debits or other bill payment methods. I have stepped in and have got her to agree to my taking on Power of Attorney. I live over 300 miles away, so can only get to see her 2 or 3 times a year.
I'm meeting with someone from Age UK to complete forms next week (we are taking a 6 hour round trip on the train and will have 3 hours with her), but would like advice on the complications and problems that are likely to arise. How long is it likely to take to be granted power of Attorney and will it be possible to undertake all she needs from such a distance - any advice and guidance would be appreciated, especially on what we should try and achieve next week

Keep_pedalling

Once you have all the forms completed it takes around 8 weeks to get it registered. Once you have it
I would open a current account for her pension to be paid into, and close down the building soc account.

You could then manage her finances on line.

elsien

If you're looking at power of attorney, would she want to think about a welfare power of attorney as well as financial? If so, she needs to give some serious thought about how she wants to be cared for in the eventuality that she loses capacity. It's not something to be rushed.

Savvy_Sue

the 'quick'n'dirty' method of dealing with this would be a joint account for your mother's bills. There are some disadvantages with this (and actually opening a joint account is not trivial if your mother can't get out).

If your mother could get out if you were there, could you make a longer visit to do this?

I'm also thinking that the situation doesn't sound sustainable in the longer term, visiting 2-3 times a year if she has no friends and can't get out ...

Mojisola

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'm also thinking that the situation doesn't sound sustainable in the longer term, visiting 2-3 times a year if she has no friends and can't get out ...

This ^ x100.

gairlochgal

Ive just done power of attorney for my parents. Did it online and used the GP as certifying authority. It is a fiddly process for understandable reason. We started in December and only just registered it with the bank today. One problem was that the GP used initial instead of his full first name - that was rejected. Then the power of attorney form wasn't properly stamped by the OPG - bank wouldnt accept it - so we had to post it back, have it reissued and then start again with bank appointments

Sorry to be gloomy but just wanted to warn you that it's not entirely straightforward

macman

You can manage almost all the finances online, and for most you can simply open them in her name (with her consent obviously) without necessarily invoking the POA. Banks often seem to struggle to grant online access under a POA, and you may find that you end up with a joint account instead.
I handled my mum's finances for about 8 years this way, with all billing on DD, and the current account was the only one where the POA was registered.