LPA for my 91 year aunt - solicitor declining to release

elsien

I agree, capacity being time and decision specific, there must be any number of people who can manage day to day spending but have lost the ability to manage the more complex aspects.

We haven’t used a solicitor at all for my mother’s LPA. Done ourselves online, she’s self-certified extra copies. I have one copy and I know where to find the others in her house should they be needed. 

Robin9

May I suggest a series of letters - Elec, Gas, Water, Insurance - giving you authority to operate accounts on your behalf.

Include your doctor - my surgery wanted one so I could talk to the doctor.

kayleighali

I have LPA for my grandmother which transferred to me upon the death of my mother. Like your situation, my grandmother was deemed to still have capacity but could not cope with dealing with her finances on her own and couldn't physically deal with them in person due to being in a nursing home. My mum had to go through a lot of the same things to have the LPA invoked originally but the solicitor at the time pointed out to us that they had to do their due diligence on their side as what if they released the documents to us without my grandmother's knowledge and we were to steal from her - not that uncommon unfortunately

The way to look at it is it's a good thing that they are being awkward as they are ensuring your aunt is part of the process, which given that she still has mental capacity, is absolutely the right thing to do. I know it's a pain but it just ensures everything is done correctly.

The only other thing I would say is that you have mentioned a few times having to give up your time to sort things out etc, be prepared for this to go on a bit longer as banks/insurance/anywhere you need to use the LPA will want to see evidence from either your aunt or a medical professional that you are using it with the correct authority, again this is a pain but just part of the process. You may also need to drop things at the last minute and go to your aunt if she needs assistance with something, again just part of the LPA journey best of luck to you, it's not always easy but it's worth it!

Frogletina

I went with my husband to get POA for him (myself and my daughter were named on the forms).

All 3 of us were sent copies and when the time came that he was unable to act for himself I was able to just take the copy to the bank or hospital to be able to deal on his behalf.

There was no extra check needed to prove that he no longer had capacity. I was already helping him where I could and he agreed verbally on the phone I could speak for him with utilities etc.

There was no need for my husband to confirm I could use it, and surely that is the point of granting POA.

I can't understand why the solicitor is withholding the POA forms for your Aunt.

mrschaucer

Frogletina said:

I can't understand why the solicitor is withholding the POA forms for your Aunt.

Presumably because she was his client and asked him to look after the POA for her.  If she did not need any further input from the solicitor once he had drawn up/registered the document for her, she could have asked to keep the original herself, made copies, distributed them etc etc.  But she didn't.  So his job now is to look after his client's best interests and check that she really wants the POA to be used at this stage.  I can see where he's coming from.
Lots of people these days are able to do the whole process themselves, though, not using a solicitor at all.

TBagpuss

Daniel54 said:

Thank you for your reply  which is appreciated

From my perspective capacity and best interests are not mutually exclusive. If you can show me the relevant law, that would be helpful

I am not seeking to take over the entirety of her finances but sit alongside her in the areas such as council tax, home insurance and income tax where she is struggling to manage and there are potentially negative consequences for omission/non compliance

Due to very poor hearing it is not possible to have a meaningful conversation on the phone and she has no internet presence. So my communications with her must be face to face or in writing. Post stroke, she is verbally compromised and finds it hard to write.

Are you sure that as her attorney I have no rights to the paperwork? I have not been able to find anything to that effect.

If you are correct, then this persuades me not not to lodge my own LPA with my solicitor.

My aunt's  LPA is not dependent on capacity

I dealt/assisted with my late mother finances ( pre and post loss of capacity) under an EPA and had no problems, but in that case I had the original document to provide to the relative agencies/authorities.

Could you type a letter for her to sign? Something simply like ' please send the original and certified copies of my powers of attorney'

It is appropriate for the solicitors to check, and normally they would want to check ID before releasing original documents . I think the issue may well be that while you are an attorney, you are not their client. 

Malthusian

Robin9 said:

May I suggest a series of letters - Elec, Gas, Water, Insurance - giving you authority to operate accounts on your behalf.

Include your doctor - my surgery wanted one so I could talk to the doctor.

Doing a a series of letters for every single company you deal with is usually a waste of time - one lasting power of attorney should suffice.

The aunt has complicated things rather unnecessarily by appointing relatives as her attorneys and registering the LPOAs but then giving them to a solicitor to safeguard. If you trust your attorneys, why not just let them keep the LPOAs? But for whatever reason she wanted the solicitors to look after the documents and they are carrying out that job.

The OP will need the LPOA eventually so it seems sensible to just get on with it.

Gers

This all sounds odd to me.

I was attorney for my now deceased mother - her solicitor held the original document (with the red seal) and gave copies when requested.  Then my mother asked for the original and it was given over without any problem.  We could make our own copies and my mother self-certified them when necessary.

BooJewels

Gers said:

I was attorney for my now deceased mother - her solicitor held the original document (with the red seal) and gave copies when requested.  Then my mother asked for the original and it was given over without any problem.  We could make our own copies and my mother self-certified them when necessary.

I think your comment in bold is the salient bit - your mother - the client of the solicitor - asked for a copy and was given it without difficulty.  In this case, the OP is the Attorney, not the donor, and has asked for the solicitor for the document.  I suspect all that this needs is for the Donor, his aunt, to ask the solicitor for it, or write, asking for/or authorising the solicitor to accommodate her nephew in providing a certified copy or the original.  Whilst it feels like an irritation to the OP, I suspect the solicitor is just protecting the aunt, his client.

In each of the three cases where I've been/am an attorney - the solicitor drawing it up had the original kept safe and provided each donor with a certified copy of each LPA.  I've acted as an Attorney for 2 of these family members and not yet seen an original, the certified copy has sufficed throughout.

I found that writing a letter of authorisation to use like an LPA (as suggested earlier), signed by the donor, was meaningless in our case, they just asked for the LPA document - as there was one and it trumped any individual letter.