Seeing solicitors about mums will

longwalks1

Asking on behalf of my partner. She is due to see the solicitors with her brother and her elderly mother (84 years old) in a couple of weeks regarding power of attorney and updating her mum’s will.  My OH has no idea what to ask, or specify.

mother in law wants both my partner and her brother to both have power of attorney, but other than that, has no idea what to expect.  Mums house is fully paid for, approx value maybe £550k.  Think she gets some of dads pension (dad passed away 7 years ago). 

Will it be a straightforward meeting or will my partner need to prepare anything, or will mum need to have a list of what money she has, what savings etc?

apologies for the probable very basic questions, but this is the first time we’ve ever had to do something like this 

74jax

Mum will need to think if she would like them both to act together with poa, or if they can act separately.
She should think if it is both health and financial poa she wants for them. 
Regarding her will, who she wants to be executors, who she wants to inherit (and what if that person dies etc) the solicitor will guide through a variety of scenarios. 

BooJewels

One tip I would pass on in respect of 'preparation' is to take a typed or neatly written piece of paper with any parties involved in the will or LPAs details written down, with correct full names (including middle names) and their full correct addresses etc.  It will save any wasted time in the meeting trying to remember someone's postcode or middle name and ensure that it is recorded in the paperwork properly.

The most important factor is that your partner's Mum needs to know what she wants from it - the decisions and details are hers to make.  She also needs to choose executors of her will and potential 'what if' scenarios - maybe with reserve executors and attorneys.  Two elderly family members of mine are currently re-doing LPAs and Wills due to bereavements within the family, leaving them either without an executor, or with only one.  So writing in some redundancy at this stage is a good idea.

The solicitor will ask these questions anyway.

Pennylane

They can do the Power of Attorney stuff themselves on the Govt site. It is very straightforward and they will save a lot of money. Solicitors charge about £1200 and DIY costs less than £100.  

BooJewels

Pennylane said:

They can do the Power of Attorney stuff themselves on the Govt site. It is very straightforward and they will save a lot of money. Solicitors charge about £1200 and DIY costs less than £100.  

All of my family that have had LPAs done haven't spent more than £200-300 for both LPAs, including the OPG fee.  If she gets Pension Credits, there's a reduction in the OPG's fee too.

relishy57

I’ve just done my LPA’s myself. I decided to do it now whilst I can make the decisions for myself. Family members had just gone through the scenario of leaving it too late for LPA and thus having to do  the more costly and lengthy Court of Protection order.
This was too late in the end as the person passed away before it was completed.
it was a relatively straightforward process but expect long processing times.

TBagpuss

Another point to be aware of is that the solicitor will want to be sure that it is Mu who is making the decisions, and that she is not being pressured by the children, so it is likely that the solicitors will ask your partner and their brother to leave so they can speak to mum on her own, (particularly if they will be beneficiaries under the will) so make sure that mum knows this and is clear in her own mid about what changes she wants to make to the will and why.

(It's probably a good idea if at the start of the meeting they make clear thy understand - for example, if they explain that they would find it helpful for the solicitor to go through what is needed for a PoA and what effects it has, while they are all there, and that as Mum also wants to update her will, they then process to so out for a coffee while mum has that conversation, that way it is clear that she isn't being pressured and that the solicitor doesn't need to try to maneuver them out! 

Suggest that mum go with a list of her correct assets and who she wants to have as her executors (responsible for the practical arrangements when she is gone) and the beneficiaries (who gets what) 

For PoA, she needs to think about whether she is happy for each of the Attorneys to act separately or if they need to both agree before they can do anything (usually less useful as slower!) 

It's sensible to make a note of any questions she has 

getmore4less

If you want to know what's needed, what question to ask or get answers to do a dry run yourselves.

Download the LPA forms and fill them in

Download IHT205(and IHT206 help notes)  and fill that in.

If you need to use IHT400  start on those.

You will need to know what transferable nil rate bands are available as the estate is over £500k.
That may require looking at dads IHT return from when he passed.