Lasting Power of Attorney (financial descisions)

beeza650

AnotherJoe said:

beeza650 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Don't appoint someone who isn't going to act in your best interests. 

I have to give her sufficient freedom as she will have responsibility for my children (and hopefully me). I can't isolate her from having any access to 'stuff' and having to ask for every penny.
Or maybe I can - and the attorney(s) just provide a suitable allowance. This is what I'm trying to figure out.
Maybe that's better ....give my siblings joint PoA and explain my wishes.

From what youve said that sounds like a much better plan. And why chnage it after you've separated? You could have it that way before eg right now, if you wanted.

p.s. I hope this is just a belt and braces thing or is there something bad healthwise coming? Fingers crossed for you

No, no, nothing bad pending that I know of, but I do take risks, motorbike riding, snowboarding and so on and even if I didn't, bad things happen to people all the time. I'm maybe in a different situation to many I expect in that all the "family" assets are mine and we're generated long before I met my partner. Yes, we've got two great kids but it's no secret if they weren't here then we'd have split a very long time ago.
PoA to siblings, tell them to ensure my partner has a "decent" allowance to care for the kids and that's it. Anything else would be up to their discretion though my wish is that my children are provided for while I'm alive and also in death, specifically that there's a decent chunk of inheritance left.

elsien

beeza650 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Don't appoint someone who isn't going to act in your best interests. 

I have to give her sufficient freedom as she will have responsibility for my children (and hopefully me). I can't isolate her from having any access to 'stuff' and having to ask for every penny.
Or maybe I can - and the attorney(s) just provide a suitable allowance. This is what I'm trying to figure out.
Maybe that's better ....give my siblings joint PoA and explain my wishes.

If your finances have always been completely separate then I can’t see how your attorneys could give her an allowance. Gifts have to be something that was happening prior to the LPA kicking in, do they not? This is about your best interests, not hers. 

Malthusian

I do not trust [my partner] to make particularly astute financial decisions.
I intend to make my sister and my partner attorneys

Does not compute.

What I can't figure is which financial decisions are sufficiently important that I'd want both attorneys to agree.

All of them are. All your appointed attorneys must agree on any decision. The only difference between "joint and several" and "joint only" is how much paperwork you want your attorneys to do.

If two attorneys appointed jointly and severally disagree, they countermand each other until the courts sort it out, which is no different to what happens if they were appointed to make decisions jointly only.

I'm beginning to think siblings is the best idea.

It sounds like that meets your objectives.

Malthusian

AnotherJoe said:

The OP implied they coudl act separately???

Just to reinforce the above, attorneys never act separately. "Silence gives consent" = consent.

One is a very awkward number of attorneys because if you die in the same car accident you've wasted at least £82. And people close enough to appoint each other as POA tend to also share cars.

If you are considering appointing two attorneys but you think one of them might not make decisions in your interests and as you would make them yourself, then you need to find a different attorney.

Apodemus

beeza650 said:

... my wish is that my children are provided for while I'm alive and also in death, specifically that there's a decent chunk of inheritance left.

You could ask the solicitor drawing up your POA to specifically add clauses that will grant your chosen attorney(s) powers to meet your wishes to manage your tax affairs, including to minimise your estate's liability to IHT and to manage your investments and assets accordingly.

beeza650

Malthusian said:

AnotherJoe said:

The OP implied they coudl act separately???

Just to reinforce the above, attorneys never act separately. "Silence gives consent" = consent.

One is a very awkward number of attorneys because if you die in the same car accident you've wasted at least £82. And people close enough to appoint each other as POA tend to also share cars.

If you are considering appointing two attorneys but you think one of them might not make decisions in your interests and as you would make them yourself, then you need to find a different attorney.

If you have multiple people with Lasting PoA then you can specify that only one needs to make the decision.  Jointly and Severally. There is no need for either Attorney to ask the other before making a decision, so it's unlikely to be a case of "silence".

Your other comment about having a car accident is not relevant. Lasting PoA only applies to the living.

Thank you for your post though, it's a valuable reminder that I need to check any free advice given myself.

NottinghamKnight

Apodemus said:

beeza650 said:

... my wish is that my children are provided for while I'm alive and also in death, specifically that there's a decent chunk of inheritance left.

You could ask the solicitor drawing up your POA to specifically add clauses that will grant your chosen attorney(s) powers to meet your wishes to manage your tax affairs, including to minimise your estate's liability to IHT and to manage your investments and assets accordingly.  

If they are siblings then this would put a significant duty on them which could only be reasonably discharged by employing advisers including solicitors and accountants to discharge which would get very expensive very quickly. 

beeza650

elsien said:

beeza650 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Don't appoint someone who isn't going to act in your best interests. 

I have to give her sufficient freedom as she will have responsibility for my children (and hopefully me). I can't isolate her from having any access to 'stuff' and having to ask for every penny.
Or maybe I can - and the attorney(s) just provide a suitable allowance. This is what I'm trying to figure out.
Maybe that's better ....give my siblings joint PoA and explain my wishes.

If your finances have always been completely separate then I can’t see how your attorneys could give her an allowance. Gifts have to be something that was happening prior to the LPA kicking in, do they not?

That's an interesting point.
We live together, she does most of the food shopping and buys most of kids clothes. Everything else I pay for, I alone own the house. When she's working, I don't ever give her any kind of allowance.

Let's say I have a motorbike accident and that results in me being unable to make financial decisions. It's sad to say but I don't imagine she'd be my carer and would probably want to "move on" with her life. My financial wishes at this time would be that (a) I get the best care (b) my children are well cared for (c) nobody blows it all and the kids get a good start in adult life when I die or when it's clear I no longer need all my assets.

Until the kids are 18 (at least). It would seem the easiest way to achieve (b) is to provide an allowance to her. But what is that allowance? a gift? taxable income? 

NottinghamKnight

beeza650 said:

elsien said:

beeza650 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Don't appoint someone who isn't going to act in your best interests. 

I have to give her sufficient freedom as she will have responsibility for my children (and hopefully me). I can't isolate her from having any access to 'stuff' and having to ask for every penny.
Or maybe I can - and the attorney(s) just provide a suitable allowance. This is what I'm trying to figure out.
Maybe that's better ....give my siblings joint PoA and explain my wishes.

If your finances have always been completely separate then I can’t see how your attorneys could give her an allowance. Gifts have to be something that was happening prior to the LPA kicking in, do they not?

That's an interesting point.
We live together, she does most of the food shopping and buys most of kids clothes. Everything else I pay for, I alone own the house. When she's working, I don't ever give her any kind of allowance.

Let's say I have a motorbike accident and that results in me being unable to make financial decisions. It's sad to say but I don't imagine she'd be my carer and would probably want to "move on" with her life. My financial wishes at this time would be that (a) I get the best care (b) my children are well cared for (c) nobody blows it all and the kids get a good start in adult life when I die or when it's clear I no longer need all my assets.

Until the kids are 18 (at least). It would seem the easiest way to achieve (b) is to provide an allowance to her. But what is that allowance? a gift? taxable income? 

That statement really doesn't reflect well on you at all, it would be interesting to get your partners view. Given all the circumstances it may be better to employ your partner/ wife as the children's carer and have a contract of employment, if she then chooses to move on you would simply employ someone else in a similar capacity. 

beeza650

In what way does it reflect badly @NottinghamKnight ? She would continue to care for our children