What Now For Power Of Attorney?

getmore4less

sheramber wrote: »

The person signing the Certificate MUST be solicitor or doctor.

http://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/power-of-attorney/the-power-of-attorney-document#Certificate%20of%20capacity

Certificate of capacity

The certificate of capacity forms part of the PoA document. This certificate can only be completed by either a solicitor who is registered to practice law in Scotland or by a UK registered and licenced medical doctor (known as prescribed persons)


Before you sign and date the PoA document, a solicitor who is registered to practice law in Scotland or a UK medical doctor must interview you to ensure that you understand what you are doing by granting PoA. If the solicitor or medical doctor is satisfied that you understand they will sign the Schedule 1 certificate. This certificate will now form part of your PoA document.
Prior to approaching your doctor you might want to check their willingness to undertake the necessary interview assessment and certification step.

That only applies in Scotland.

elsien

getmore4less wrote: »

That only applies in Scotland.

The OP is in Scotland.

Keep_pedalling

elsien wrote: »

The OP is in Scotland.

Apologies, I had missed that vital piece of information.

getmore4less

in that case they need a guardianship order...

sheramber

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

But like the GP a solicitor would need to convince themselves that she still had the mental capacity to do this. Unfortunately this sort of interviews can be stressful which can cause confusion and failure of the test.

The person who acts as the certificate provider does not need to be a professional person, it can also be someone who has known her for at least 2 years, so a close friend could do it, but they should only do it if your mother really does still have the capacity to know exactly what she is doing.

Not according to the Office of Public Guardian

5. Certify a copy of a lasting power of attorney

You can confirm that a copy of your lasting power of attorney (LPA) is genuine by ‘certifying’ it if you’re still able to make your own decisions.

You or your attorney can use a certified copy to register your LPA if you don’t have the original form.

Your attorney can also use the certified copy to prove they have permission to make decisions on your behalf, for example to manage your bank account.
How to certify a copy

Write the following text on the bottom of every page of the copy:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the corresponding page of the original lasting power of attorney.”

On the final page of the copy, you must also write:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the lasting power of attorney.”

You need to sign and date every page.
Other ways to certify a copy

Copies of your LPA can also be certified by:

a solicitor
a person authorised to carry out notarial activities

Keep_pedalling

sheramber wrote: »

Not according to the Office of Public Guardian

5. Certify a copy of a lasting power of attorney

You can confirm that a copy of your lasting power of attorney (LPA) is genuine by ‘certifying’ it if you’re still able to make your own decisions.

You or your attorney can use a certified copy to register your LPA if you don’t have the original form.

Your attorney can also use the certified copy to prove they have permission to make decisions on your behalf, for example to manage your bank account.
How to certify a copy

Write the following text on the bottom of every page of the copy:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the corresponding page of the original lasting power of attorney.”

On the final page of the copy, you must also write:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the lasting power of attorney.”

You need to sign and date every page.
Other ways to certify a copy

Copies of your LPA can also be certified by:

a solicitor
a person authorised to carry out notarial activities

You are confusing certificate provider and certified copies of the registered LPA. The certificate provider is the person who completes the section of the application to say that you are doing this of your own free will.

L0upyl0u

My Dad had had a few problems when using the cash machine and I was worried he was vulnerable to being robbed. So we went to the bank to see what could be done. He signed a pro forma that enabled me to have a cash only card for his account and deal with any queries at the bank on his behalf. I just used it for withdrawing his spending cash and anything else I paid for initially was repaid by cheque so I had an audit trail for both our protection. Some years later I found out purely by chance that if he became more unwell using a pro forma would be illegal. E.g. lack of mental capacity, unconscious.
By then Dads memory had got worse but I was told it was possible he could still have mental capacity. I could have helped him set up the POA myself as it seemed straight forward. However, for Dads protection and my reputation I wanted to involve a third party. Also any errors would delay the process and it takes several weeks when there are no problems; so we used a solicitor.
We were told originally it would cost less than half what he was eventually charged. Asked for an explanation, which didn’t seem satisfactory, but then we was worried that pursuing the matter would only ramp up the cost even more. The quote was just for the registered POA but they had also set up an interim power of attorney. Fortunately, Dad could afford it. It made my life a lot easier as I was now able to use phone/internet banking for his account. It enabled me to have a debit card so that I could pay his bills/expenses directly from his account. Although I’m still annoyed how much it cost I have heard if you have to resort to court of protection the costs are exorbitant.
I have some reservations about POA. All I was told to do as attorney was to keep receipts for any money spent. Surely the office of the Public guardian should send the attorneys a booklet of instructions as I have since found out I should have kept accounts. It never occurred to me at the time to double check using the internet but then I was too busy looking after Dad.
I followed usual checklist on what to do when someone died. Yet again it was only by chance that I found out, from a not so obvious website, that I should inform the office public guardian that he had died and send the original document back to them. As it was a couple of months after he died I had already shredded all but one certified copy as they were no longer needed, or so I thought. I had only kept a copy as I was considering setting up my own POA and I was going to use it for reference. Hope this helps.