Power of Attorney - How much!!!!

badmemory

I found doing my POAs far less stressful than switching my gas & electric. Just wish I'd waited a couple of months & only paid £82 each! Seriously though, it was straightforward & you just follow the notes, don't try to complicate anything. As long as you trust your attorney/s to act in your best interests (if you don't you shouldn't be appointing them) then give them the ability to do just that. Things change over time & any restriction may actually prevent them from acting in your best interests.

There is an old thread on here (somewhere) about a health POA which stated that the GP should tell the attorney about the donors health & treatment. The donor landed up in hospital & because the POA stated GP, refused to tell the attorney anything at all, not even what they would normally have told a close relative. So beware restrictions which have unintended consequences.

loulou41

Browntoa wrote: »

You can download and fill out the forms yourself from the land registry site and again fill them out

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-land-registry-forms

Changing from joint tenants to tenants in common is very easy to do. I have done it myself. Cannot help with trust will. You will need the advice of a STEP solicitor.

konark

Serendipity539 wrote: »

change the house to tenants in common and put both our shares in trust for our son so that should either of us have to go into care they cannot take the house.

If it was that easy everyone would do it.

Yorkshireman99

Serendipity539 wrote: »

I'm 73 and my husband is 85. I suffer from Parkinsons Disease. We have savings, a mortgage free house and other land and property. The house is in joint names.
We have been quoted £995! by an Estate planner and slightly less by our solicitor to update our present simple wills, change the house to tenants in common and put both our shares in trust for our son so that should either of us have to go into care they cannot take the house. However, I'm sure I could do the necessary forms myself to change to tenants in common and this is free to do?
Our son is executor of our will, and we want to make him Power of Attorney,but should we also appoint each other as replacement attorneys ?
We have been quoted £450 each for 2 Power Of Attorneys by an Estate planner to do these, and a little less by our solicitor. However, looking on the gov.uk website, it seems quite easy to deal with it myself, taking less than an hour and costing only £164 each!
It all looks quite easy to do, and certainly shouldn't cost £1895, thoughts please

Don’t bother with the trust. That will be seen as deprivation of assets so will not help avoiding care fees. POAs can easily be done online. Make sure you appoint two attorneys in case on e cannot act.

Red-Squirrel_2

As joint tenants, the house can't be 'taken' while one owner still needs to live in it.

My parents have changed to TIC too based on their solicitor's advice and I really wish they hadn't tbh.

Yorkshireman99

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

As joint tenants, the house can't be 'taken' while one owner still needs to live in it.

My parents have changed to TIC too based on their solicitor's advice and I really wish they hadn't tbh.

If the joint tenancy is severed then a sale can be forced

loulou41

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Don’t bother with the trust. That will be seen as deprivation of assets so will not help avoiding care fees. POAs can easily be done online. Make sure you appoint two attorneys in case on e cannot act.

You might find this useful

Is it a deliberate deprivation of assets? Some examples:

Mr Andrews and Mrs Andrews own their home as Joint Tenants in Common in equal shares. They make Wills leaving their respective shares of the property to each other in trust for life, and then to their two children. Mr Andrews passes away. Later, Mrs Andrews requires residential care. As she does not own Mr Andrew’s share of the property (she only has a ‘life interest’), it is not taken into account when performing a means test. Mr Andrew’s share is safe and will go to the children when Mrs Andrews passes away. This is not deprivation of assets.

cookie365

POAs are easy to do online, just don't start adding extra conditions as they'll just make the POAs unworkable.

Lorian

Agree, and that important reason to do the POA's online is its much easier to correct thing online and then print them out than doing it on paper copies.

SevenOfNine

loulou41 wrote: »

You might find this useful

Is it a deliberate deprivation of assets? Some examples:

Mr Andrews and Mrs Andrews own their home as Joint Tenants in Common in equal shares. They make Wills leaving their respective shares of the property to each other in trust for life, and then to their two children. Mr Andrews passes away. Later, Mrs Andrews requires residential care. As she does not own Mr Andrew’s share of the property (she only has a ‘life interest’), it is not taken into account when performing a means test. Mr Andrew’s share is safe and will go to the children when Mrs Andrews passes away. This is not deprivation of assets.

Unless the example given has Mr Andrews as 85 & Mrs Andrews as 73 with Parkinsons, then it has little bearing on this thread!

Serendipity has not mentioned the value of this estate or the type of 'trust' they plan to drop the shares in their home in to. She should perhaps be aware of the rules regarding the Main Residence Nil Rate Band.

Presumably whatever type of 'trust' is intended, it kicks in on death of spouse A or B, so not sure why Serendipity thinks it would protect the home from the LA if a care home is required for either spouse A or B. Though I don't believe even as Tenants in Common the LA could "force a sale" on the spouse who remains in the home. Surely it's more likely they would put a 'charge' on the home, so should the remaining spouse sell to move or die - THEN they collect what is owed for the outlay of fees they've covered/continue to cover?

Frankly, I was speechless at how SIMPLE it was to complete both types of 'POA' on line. We chose to name each other & our son as attorneys, to act jointly and/or severally. Help & advice was provided at each step of the way (pop up style), the same info did not have to be keyed in when completing the 2nd form as drop down options with a pick list of what was on the 1st completed form appeared, so 1 click & it was dropped in place.

Same thing when I opted to complete forms for another person (husband), I just rearranged what was to go where from the drop down pick lists compiled by the system from the 1st form.

Serendipity, you have nothing to lose by having a go at the POA's yourself. The only tricky bit for me involved a witness who managed to spell her own name & part of her address incorrectly! :mad: