Lasting Power of Attorney

Fermion

Myself and my wife set up mutual LPoAs (for both Finance as well as Health/Welfare) last year following the DIY route. Fairly straightforward. We also included our Children as replacement attorneys following advice from an IHT wealth planning advisor. This avoids having to setup new LPoAs later in life for the surviving spouse. We chose to allow the attorney to make decisions immediately not just when the other party doesn't have mental capacity. Again this was recommended to us due to the complexities of proving lack of capacity.

We have also both setup and registered these online with the OPG using the activation keys that were provided by the OPG  when they were first issued. There is a time limit set by OPG to register online. The advantage of registering online is that it's then very easy to create access code keys to register the LPoAs with various Financial Institutions without having to get a Solicitor to create and sign a certified copy of the original document and send this by post etc.

I notice that 1 responder mentioned that some financial transactions can be performed by a third party using a letter of authority. There are some limitations with this approach. I have third party authority as well as a LPoA for Finance for my wife's cousin who spends a significant amount of time abroad. He wanted me to increase his monthly pension drawdown amount with HL but I found out from HL that this could only be done by a LPoA not via third party authority access. 

Keep_pedalling

Quite often when someone loses mental capacity their expenditure rockets up though care costs. If that is the case it is quite clear that regular gifts that were previously given from excess income must stop. That does not stop any IHT exemption claim for gifts from excess income made in previous years.

Albermarle

Myself and my wife set up mutual LPoAs (for both Finance as well as Health/Welfare) last year following the DIY route. Fairly straightforward. We also included our Children as replacement attorneys following advice from an IHT wealth planning advisor. This avoids having to setup new LPoAs later in life for the surviving spouse. We chose to allow the attorney to make decisions immediately not just when the other party doesn't have mental capacity. Again this was recommended to us due to the complexities of proving lack of capacity.

We have just done exactly the same ( apart from the advisor bit)

We have also both setup and registered these online with the OPG using the activation keys that were provided by the OPG  when they were first issued. There is a time limit set by OPG to register online. The advantage of registering online is that it's then very easy to create access code keys to register the LPoAs with various Financial Institutions without having to get a Solicitor to create and sign a certified copy of the original document and send this by post etc.

However I was not aware of this, especially the solicitor part. So had a look at the documentation and to quote,

'Create an account now at www.gov.uk/use-LPA. Then add this LPA to it using the reference number and the activation key. You must use your activation key to add the LPA before XX January 2024. After this date you activation key will expire. If the activation key expires before you use it, you can ask for a new one through the Use a Lasting Power of Attorney service'

No mention of a solicitor being needed.

So you are right that activating online is much better, but if you do not do it straight away it seems not to be a big issue.

bunnygo

regarding creating LPAs - keep logging in as there are NO email alerts when something happens. And when you do log in, click right through. Just found that mine has gone from 'checking' to 'processed' - BUT when I logged in it still said 'checking',and the status didn't change until I clicked on 'view checking message'. I now find that letters are in the post, with a date to call them if nothing shows up.

As I've had previous activation codes never arrive, I'll believe it when I see it.

this is a rather poor piece of implementation but that's no real surprise. I left feedback but I don't expect anything to happen.

bunnygo

that worked....LPA arrived this morning. Near as dammit 4 months since I sent it to them. The attorneys have a year to create their online accounts and add it to those with their codes, and I've done it for mine.

Albermarle

bunnygo said:

that worked....LPA arrived this morning. Near as dammit 4 months since I sent it to them. The attorneys have a year to create their online accounts and add it to those with their codes, and I've done it for mine.

The attorneys can create their online account at any time, not just within a year. The activation codes to actually add the LPA to the account only last one year, but new ones can be issued.
The main point is to get the LPA in place long before any issues occur, after that the rest  are only minor admin issues.

ammiLy

I am looking to set up financial and health+wellbeing LPAs and have already done the first draft online. Discussions on this thread were very interesting. In particular the gifting for various purposes on the financial LPA. The way I understand it, anything that does not break the law can be put into one of the two sections - the would like to not/happen and must not/happen. So one could stipulate, that in presence of excess income, a family holiday should be paid for or contributed towards, or contribution of £x should be made towards weddings of grandchildren, driving lessons etc. I have not seen any guidance forbidding listing things out. And of course, for those who are setting up LPAs when younger and may not have grandchildren yet, it would be hard for attorney to demonstrate what the donor would want to do. I think gifting would be hard to frame as 'in the best interest ' of the donor, this is more relevant to paying bills, making investments and for example shopping around for best prices on anything that is needed. If there is excess income, there is no reason avoid gifting that reflects available funds.

Yorkie1

Someone raised a question much earlier in the thread as to whether an overseas Attorney was possible.

My brother and I are Attorneys in my Mum's LPAs - and he lives in Europe. So yes, there are no issues preventing this in principle. The only challenge, as others have said, was in ensuring that the signatures were added to the physical documents (as they were then) in the correct sequence.

Primrose

In addition to the above useful comments, we all now have the activation Code process to navigate.  We,ve just received these for the spouse for whom we act  but it appears  that our other two attorneys - (we can all act jointly and severally)  - cannot use this code but must each apply for their own code.

Is this  correct as the letter from O of PG says "Do not give this code to anybody else"

However  it seems the activation key only lasts for a year and then expires and you have to reapply for another one so it seems there,s no point in having one if you might not need to use the P of A for several years.or do you have to use it to set up your LPA account which can then be used any time? . Any "idiott,a guide" clarification would be appreciated 

squirrelpie

Yorkie1 said:

Someone raised a question much earlier in the thread as to whether an overseas Attorney was possible.

My brother and I are Attorneys in my Mum's LPAs - and he lives in Europe. So yes, there are no issues preventing this in principle. The only challenge, as others have said, was in ensuring that the signatures were added to the physical documents (as they were then) in the correct sequence.

I have heard that another issue is that in some situations, it is difficult if the attorney is not physically close to the donor. To check how they are etc. So overseas attorneys may not be a good idea.