Power of Attorney

Keep_pedalling

Westysam said:

Hi, I took out a POA for my father in law, when he lost his late wife in 2016, He is not able to read or write. He still has full mental capacity, but recently I discovered that he had got married in 2017, without telling anyone. Is the POA still valid, as he now has a wife. The POA was registered in April 2016, and he got married in Jan 2017. The person he married lives abroad. 
Any advice would be helpful, as I am not sure any more. 

Getting married does not invalidate the LPA, he would actively need to cancel it or make a new one.

born_again

CashMoney said:

@Keep_pedalling and @xylophone - As a multi-national, my mother now and again goes to her motherland for 3-4 weeks and requires spending money. Also she is old fashioned and likes to pay for her flight tickets in cash in person to the travel agent thus the reason to withdraw more than £2000.

So she is able to pay the travel agent in person. So can clearly get there. So why can she not get the cash herself.
I'm very surprised that you are not being questioned further as to shy you are taking £2K cash as well.
As POA you should be advising her that. it is in her best interests she pays on her card (more protection) not only from airline going bust, but also from her own personal safety.

CashMoney

@born_again - she is disabled and I drive her around so I would take her to travel agent. As to why she can't get the cash herself, the bank is on a high street with no parking nearby so I would have to walk there and obtain the money myself.
@BooJewels -  same as above, and yes she is well enough to travel overseas but the actual travelling bit would be all done on wheelchair. As for me moving accounts for my own convenience, what's wrong with that? It's not like I'm saying "Oh well my bank is closer to me so I'll move hers to mine". Like I have said previously, Barclays are acting like thugs, making me jump through hoops, and as someone has mentioned Nationwide are easy with POA's that is why I would like to move her account over.

BooJewels

CashMoney said:

@BooJewels -  same as above, and yes she is well enough to travel overseas but the actual travelling bit would be all done on wheelchair. As for me moving accounts for my own convenience, what's wrong with that? It's not like I'm saying "Oh well my bank is closer to me so I'll move hers to mine". Like I have said previously, Barclays are acting like thugs, making me jump through hoops,

I think perhaps you're not fully grasping your responsibility as an Attorney - one of the most important guiding principles is to "make decisions in the donor’s best interests" - your personal convenience isn't a consideration.  At the very least, you should have a discussion with your Mum about future arrangements that mutually work well for both of you.  The decision, if she has capacity to make it, must be hers.  Please click on the link I posted earlier to familiarise yourself with your legal and moral obligations as an Attorney.

And as has already been pointed out, please discourage your Mum from making large cash transactions - it's truly foolhardy and a significant risk in this day and age.  If you're accompanying her anyway and you have a debit card on the account, you can make the payment for her, once she's made her arrangements.  I don't think Barclays are acting like thugs, I feel as though maybe they're just protecting your Mum - because I would hope my Dad's branch would have concerns if someone else, even with the legal right to do so, suddenly wanted to take large chunks of cash out of his account.  Frankly, I think they should make you jump through hoops.  Nationwide may well have the same concerns for transactions of the nature you describe.

born_again

CashMoney said:

@born_again - she is disabled and I drive her around so I would take her to travel agent. As to why she can't get the cash herself, the bank is on a high street with no parking nearby so I would have to walk there and obtain the money myself.

So transfer the funds to your bank account and either you make the payment at the travel agent or get the cash for her.
But you really want to be making purchased like this on a card to get some protection. Far to many airlines/travel co's have gone bust and your mother could end up losing that money when paying by cash.

CashMoney

@born_again - I didn't request online or telephone banking when I set up POA at bank.
@BooJewels - I didn't choose to be a POA, if my mum wants me to be a POA then I'm not going through inconvenience. If by moving accounts I don't get this grief again, I don't see any reason for you to question it. As for "making decisions in the best interest of the donor", she has full mental capacity to do this for herself. And her decision was for me to take out money for her. 

xylophone

she is disabled and I drive her around 

No blue badge?

And surely it is safer to pay for travel tickets or other large purchase by card?

You are actually accompanying your mother and have a debit card on your person - why would you not pay by the most convenient method, rather than having to go to the bank and then to the travel agency?

And given the cases of abuse of PoA, it is unsurprising that the bank is questioning the removal of large sums in cash?

BooJewels

CashMoney said:

@BooJewels - I didn't choose to be a POA, if my mum wants me to be a POA then I'm not going through inconvenience. If by moving accounts I don't get this grief again, I don't see any reason for you to question it. As for "making decisions in the best interest of the donor", she has full mental capacity to do this for herself. And her decision was for me to take out money for her. 

My comment quoting from the legislation as to your legal obligation (i.e. it wasn't just a personal observation) about acting in the donor's best interests was specifically in respect of you moving her banking to a bank that was more convenient for you. If she does have full mental capacity, then where she banks must ultimately be her decision, unless you mutually discuss and agree between you on a more workable solution going forwards. And yes, you may not have chosen to be an attorney, but you have to agree to it and sign a declaration to that effect. If you feel it is a chore that is inconvenience to you, then the OPG have procedures for relinquishing your role, so maybe your Mum can choose someone who will do it for her with a glad heart.

Has being an attorney for my various family members been an inconvenience for me - yes it has very much so on occasion - I've run up a significant phone bill, many miles of driving taking original documents to be viewed by organisations and dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of work. But the same person I represent did the same for me at the other end of our lives. Did my Dad want to come out late on a Saturday night to pick me up from parties or concerts to ensure that I got home safe, did he want to drive me to music lessons, guides, school events, did he want to sit through endless orchestral or band recitals when I was playing, probably not. He did a million things for me that he perhaps didn't want to or were inconvenient.  So it's payback time - now I can repay his kindness and time by doing things for him that he needs. And I don't regret or resent a moment for him.  He's at the very end of his life and it is the very, very least that I can do for him, to ensure that his bills get paid, his empty house is safe and maintained and he doesn't have to worry about anything - as between my sister and I - we have his back.

It isn't an inconvenience, it's an honour.

If you feel any differently about doing a few small 'inconvenient' things for your Mum - then ring the OPG and relinquish your Attorney responsibility. I'm not sure you're grasping the responsibilities of the role.

NewYorkNo1fan

CashMoney said:

Does anyone know if some banks deal with POA's alot better than others? Barclays at the moment are dreadful, make you jump through hoops even though they have accepted me and given me a POA debit card. They seem annoyed that I have access to my mother's accounts and making it a struggle every time I need to withdraw money for her. I have been in 3 times now after receiving documentation and a POA debit card and both times no luck. First time...."can you show us your passport?" (I have showed them already during appointment to register me as POA and they have photocopies of it). I didn't have it as the person who opened it for me said I only ever need to bring in the POA debit card and enter PIN. Second time......I take my passport this time and get the reply "computer not allowing me, we need to do some checks to verify a few things and this will take an hour". I don't have this time and walk out. Third time.....Again same excuse.

Fed up now.

Best I’ve found and used for last 5yrs is Halifax.
dedicated POA team and tel.number. Give you ur own cheque book and debit card too.
Used telephone banking but no experience of internet banking.
dont touch Nationwide with a barge poll if considering flex direct account which is online only. Will not give you ur own debit card therefore u only have limited use with the card reader and cannot use an ATM.