No assets - is there an alternative to a power of attorney or deputy?

charleedimmock

My father is unwell and is not likely to recover- he has some days where he is extremely confused and disorientated, other days he can be his usual self. We have been advised by his social worker to look into a power of attorney so that we may deal with his "finances" etc. However, my father does not have any finances to speak of, he rents his house, does not own a car and has very little money in the bank (under £100). As the social worker suggested, we have been looking into the care taking of his finances (ie cancelling his tenancy and paying off the outstanding rent, as well as cancelling a couple of unnecessary direct debits.) and the cost of the power of attorney etc. Neither my brother or I are in a position to pay £500+ for the power of attorney or at least double that if we need to get the deputy award (if he is found by the doctor not to have mental capacity). Does anyone have any advice for us please about he we could settle our father's tenancy and other dealings without paying all of that money our for a power of attorney- it costs more than his total personal worth. Thanks in advance

elsien

You don't need to pay that much for a power of attorney  -  you can do it yourself using the forms downloaded from the OPG for about £90. With some remittances for low income depending on dad's circumstances.
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
However he would need to have capacity to a) agree and understand the implications and b) decided for himself who he would like to act as his deputy.
If there is a query around his capacity you need to do this sooner rather than later as there is a bit of a backlog.
The deputyship would only be relevant if he already lacks the capacity to do the LPA and as there is an ongoing cost if he has so little money then it would seem pointless.
If dad is in receipt of benefits/a pension, you could apply to the DWP to become his appointee, This takes about 8-12 weeks in normal times and we are not in normal times. 
This would allow you to have his pension etc paid into a bank account of your choice to his costs moving forwards It would not allow you access to his bank account or deal with his other finances. 
The third option which would only apply if he has capacity is to have a third party mandate for his bank account and along with written permission from him to deal with third parties on his behalf, then may allow you to support  with the other aspects.
If dad has good days and bad days, you could consider supporting him to end the tenancy on one of his good days. If he understands what he is doing and can weigh up the pros and cons at the time he does it, it doesn't matter if he has forgotten by the following day. 

Linton

Without power of attorney you will not have authority to act on your father's behalf.   Companies and official bodies may refuse to talk to you about your father because of data protection.
Where did you get the £500 cost from?  According to https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney the cost is £82 and If the donor’s income before tax is less than £12,000 a year, you’ll only have to pay half – this is known as a ‘50% remission'.

charleedimmock

The costings were an average based on a few quotes from solicitors.
Thanks so much for help Elsie N and Linton

AnotherJoe

No need to involve solicitors. I DIY'd it. Its not difficult.

sheramber

If you mean cancelling things after   death  a POA ceases on death.

getmore4less

Is the tenancy council or private?
Is he living in the property  or moved on to care/family already?
if you want to start a financial tidy up now then it may be that for the key stuff like the property and utilities, you can sort those out quickly if you can get the main one terminating the tenancy done by your dad on a good moment.  
I would consider the prognosis  if time is short then it may not be worth bothering, if there is the prospect of longer term needs to manage the cashflow then maybe.

beavere38

I applied for both Lasting Power of Attorneys for my mum recently. There are two - one for finances and one for health. We applied on 25/02/20 and it was registered and sent back on 29/05/20 so it looks like it takes about 3 months at the moment assuming there are no problems. We did it ourselves by downloading the forms and paid the standard fee but we also paid for mum's GP to sign section 10 of both as "certificate provider" which means an independent professional has checked that the "donor" (in this case your father) understands what they are doing and have not been pressured into creating an LPOA against their will. Hope this helps.

lisyloo

I did Court of Protection. There is a lot of help with fees.
could you get a 3rd party agreement with the bank to manage his account?
its not clear to me what you need lap/cop for.

tacpot12

The alternatives to a PoA are i) to become an Appointee which will allow you do deal with benefits and state pensions with the DWP, and ii) Third-Party Mandates which will allow you to deal with your father's bank accounts; your father signs a form saying that you can operate his accounts, but the money remain his. His bank should not accept a third-party mandate from him if they have any concern over his mental health. Even if he has capacity today to make you an Appointee and to give you a Third-party Mandate, what happens if he looses capacity next week? It would be best to have him make a PoA urgently, while he has capacity; if you can't afford to make the PoA, you really won't be able to apply for a Deputyship, so act now while you can. 

pphillips

Linton said:

Without power of attorney you will not have authority to act on your father's behalf.   Companies and official bodies may refuse to talk to you about your father because of data protection.
Where did you get the £500 cost from?  According to https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney the cost is £82 and If the donor’s income before tax is less than £12,000 a year, you’ll only have to pay half – this is known as a ‘50% remission'.

And fee exemption if the donor is on means tested benefits.