LPA's & Wills

Willsie01

Hope this is the right forum. If not please advise.
We're having discussions with a company called Kinherit, who have a service where they do your Wills & LPA's which includes an electronic vault where all your data is stored. Before I sign up with them is there any competition to this kind of service?

Keep_pedalling

As far as wills are concerned I would strongly recommend using a local solicitor. Will writing companies are not regulated so their is no comeback for your beneficiaries if the will writer has made an error.

LPAs are fairly easy to DIY.

lr1277

Every local solicitor I have come across offers to store your will for you. I think some even might use a national service.

I would imagine it is the same for LPA's.

You can also store a will with the Courts and Tribunal service. More details here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

Willsie01

LPAs are fairly easy to DIY.

I agree they are easy to do. I don't agree that it is necessarily a good idea to do so!
Anecdotally, I have heard about care home requirements not being specified tightly enough and consequently the person ended up in a care home remote from their family.

Willsie01

lr1277 said:

Every local solicitor I have come across offers to store your will for you. I think some even might use a national service.

I would imagine it is the same for LPA's.

You can also store a will with the Courts and Tribunal service. More details here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

The vault is not just for the Wills & LPA's it's for every personal record, account, subscription and possession etc. Everything the executor will need to make it easier for them to do their work.

Savvy_Sue

Willsie01 said:

The vault is not just for the Wills & LPA's it's for every personal record, account, subscription and possession etc. Everything the executor will need to make it easier for them to do their work.

Only if you create the records initially and keep them updated ever after. Especially with possessions, I'm intrigued ...

You could investigate the LifeBook from Age UK which would perform a similar function - but again, only if you keep it up to date.

elsien

Willsie01 said:

LPAs are fairly easy to DIY.

I agree they are easy to do. I don't agree that it is necessarily a good idea to do so!
Anecdotally, I have heard about care home requirements not being specified tightly enough and consequently the person ended up in a care home remote from their family.

I think your anecdote is missing an awful lot of salient information.
If the LPA is a family member then (finances permitting) they choose the care home and preferable location. 

If the person is being paid for by the local authority then it doesn’t matter how tightly an LPA is drawn up, they can only go with availability within their budget.
It may also be that care homes are assessing the person and declining them, so again regardless of LPA there may just be more limited choice. 

Willsie01

Savvy_Sue said:

Willsie01 said:

The vault is not just for the Wills & LPA's it's for every personal record, account, subscription and possession etc. Everything the executor will need to make it easier for them to do their work.

Only if you create the records initially and keep them updated ever after. Especially with possessions, I'm intrigued ...

You could investigate the LifeBook from Age UK which would perform a similar function - but again, only if you keep it up to date.

Yes, totally agree they have to be kept up to date but that's the purpose of the vault for me. Up-to-date info for executors. My executors have information they wouldn't even know to look for.

I'll look at LifeBook and I'm thinking there must be cloud resources I could look at to create a vault myself.

Willsie01

elsien said:

I think your anecdote is missing an awful lot of salient information.
If the LPA is a family member then (finances permitting) they choose the care home and preferable location. 

If the person is being paid for by the local authority then it doesn’t matter how tightly an LPA is drawn up, they can only go with availability within their budget.
It may also be that care homes are assessing the person and declining them, so again regardless of LPA there may just be more limited choice. 

I related a very brief part of an actual event (according to the person giving the presentation on LPA's to the St Albans U3A group). The presenter stated it as fact that the clauses in the LPA weren't written in a way to ensure the family were able to intervene in a timely fashion to prevent the person being placed in a remote care home. Nothing to do with finance, at least in a way that impacted on choice of location. Eventually, the family were able to overturn the decision as was their legal right and the person was transferred to a local care home, but it cost them time and money to do so.

If you still feel this is missing a lot of salient information then I'm sorry I'm not an expert, which is the reason I'm getting an expert to draw up our LPA's rather then run the risk of missing something that costs us and/or  our family. If it's permitted on this forum I could post the info on the company that gave the presentation.
BTW! I am not going with the company that gave the presentation!

Disappointed that there doesn't seem to be much competition, if any, to the company I'm talking to! For Wills & LPA's. Hoping for lots of info on the forum. Oh well!
I don't mean solicitors!

elsien

If there is the health/welfare LPA in place, then they should be involved before the person goes into a care home if the person lacks capacity, regardless of how it is written.  
Parent's LPA doesn't have any clauses in it although it has some preferences.  I am fully aware of her wishes and preferences as we've discussed them and she also has them written down, and she trusts me to follow them through. 
So there is nothing in the LPA to complicate things - it seems to be when people put things in that aren't feasible or are badly written or which contradict each other that issues arise. Parent wanted in hers that she doesn't go into residential care. That's just not realistic  - I am not going to be personally offering a high level for care  for her and if she's unsafe at home and can't afford to pay for 24 hour care, possibly with 2 carers, then the point may come where there just isn't a choice. 
 Sometimes less is more. 

With regards to the firm you reference, I'd be wanting to check if there are any solicitors involved - a will writer doesn't have to be a solicitor.
If you do want to pay a professional to set things up then I'd be paying for someone with the appropriate legal qualifications. 
Have you had any quotes from local solicitors for comparison? 

Keep_pedalling

Willsie01 said:p

elsien said:

I think your anecdote is missing an awful lot of salient information.
If the LPA is a family member then (finances permitting) they choose the care home and preferable location. 

If the person is being paid for by the local authority then it doesn’t matter how tightly an LPA is drawn up, they can only go with availability within their budget.
It may also be that care homes are assessing the person and declining them, so again regardless of LPA there may just be more limited choice. 

I related a very brief part of an actual event (according to the person giving the presentation on LPA's to the St Albans U3A group). The presenter stated it as fact that the clauses in the LPA weren't written in a way to ensure the family were able to intervene in a timely fashion to prevent the person being placed in a remote care home. Nothing to do with finance, at least in a way that impacted on choice of location. Eventually, the family were able to overturn the decision as was their legal right and the person was transferred to a local care home, but it cost them time and money to do so.

If you still feel this is missing a lot of salient information then I'm sorry I'm not an expert, which is the reason I'm getting an expert to draw up our LPA's rather then run the risk of missing something that costs us and/or  our family. If it's permitted on this forum I could post the info on the company that gave the presentation.
BTW! I am not going with the company that gave the presentation!

Disappointed that there doesn't seem to be much competition, if any, to the company I'm talking to! For Wills & LPA's. Hoping for lots of info on the forum. Oh well!
I don't mean solicitors!

It is difficult to see what sort of instruction put in an LPA could cause this to happen, and I suspect it was just some FUD to generate some sales.

It is really not a good idea to add any strict instructions in an LPA as it can have in foreseen consequences.  If you are uncomfortable with DIYing your LPAa then get it done by a solicitor along with your wills. You do not have to link setting up a digital vault with organising wills and LPAs. Each of your attorneys can hold a certified copy of your LPAs so that they can act in the case of emergency.