To Declare Powers of Attorneys Or Not

HappyScotsman

IHT400 Q16 "Did anyone act under power of attorney .." and I understand the reason for the question; regard gifts made by the attorney as being made by the deceased and fill in IHT403.

During my mother's life there were four PoAs that I know of:
- One to allow me to administer an office building she owned; it was written in the early 2000s and specific to the building. I used it mainly to take out utility contracts and deal with agents on her behalf though most didn't care.
- LPAs for Finance and for Health and Welfare. They were finally registered for use with the Office of the Public Guardian in November, but mother died in February. H&W was never activated, and the other was not used. She never lost mental capacity either.
- a general PoA her solicitor gave me to use while the LPA registration dragged on. I used it twice; once to allow her phone provider to let me manage her landline, and the other to do likewise for her mobile phone.

She used up her £3k pa allowance each year and would make a few other gifts of up to £250. She made a few large gifts when she sold a house 20 years ago, so they have time expired.
 
So my take on this is if I declare the PoAs, I have to send copies of them, and I have never seen the LPAs so I think state the reference numbers, and send a IHT403 with all the "No"s ticked. For the sake of a pile of paper and time, I'm sorely tempted to tick "No" to Q16 and save everyone needless paperwork.

HobgoblinBT

I assume that your question is not “should I lie on the IHT firms”.  

My experience of the Probate office is that the telephone help line is very good.  Telephone the U.K. gov probate office and ask for guidance after explaining the situation. 

HappyScotsman

Sorry, no it was more of a late evening rant.

I'm so close to submitting the IHT400 and the absolute mountain of schedules and supporting paperwork. Then as I was reviewing for the umpteenth time, I saw a box I'd overlooked. More damn paper.

You are right: the folk I've spoken to on the helpline have the patience of saints; sympathetic and understanding. The really are so helpful.

But I contrast this process with transferring a business bank account recently; everything was online, secure uploads of scanned documents, AI quality checks as I went along. It was another wodge of paperwork, but no trees involved.