Post bankruptcy and Power of Attorney question

TwoGuitars

I am wondering if anyone has had a similar issue to me.  I had to file for bankruptcy in 2008.  Last year we set up Lasting Power of Attorney (LPAs) for both my elderly parents with me as their attorney for both financial and health.  When I saw the solicitor she didn’t ask me whether I was, or had been bankrupt.  (They cost £1300 for both parents.)  I genuinely didn’t think about the bankruptcy affecting these LPAs.  This may sound naïve but my only interest in the LPAs is their care and wellbeing.  I look after both of them as they are nearing 100 years old. 

Recently I was trying to move my parents’ ISAs within their own bank to get a higher rate of interest and so had to verify my own ID with their bank and go in for a meeting with an adviser at Barclays bank.  She was processing my ID and then asked if I had previously had an account with them, which I did at the time of the bankruptcy.  Of course my bankruptcy came up on her screen.  As a result, I am not able to be an attorney for either of my parents. I realise now I should have researched this before we set up the LPAs but just didn't think about it.  There may be problems ahead.  

My issue is; shouldn’t the solicitor have asked me whether I was or had been bankrupt?  Obviously, it wouldn’t have gone ahead if she had asked the question.  The sad thing is that this has caused the pain of bankruptcy to rear its ugly head again.  Barclays regard me almost as a criminal, they don’t know the reasons for the cause of bankruptcy.  I looked on the gov.uk website and it says that when choosing an attorney they can’t be a bankrupt.  As I have been discharged a long time ago, I didn’t realise that I am still regarded as a bankrupt.  I am going to email my solicitor when I have collected my thoughts on this a bit, but I guess she will say that I should have known this myself.

 

flipflopflo

Yeah, I don’t think the person at the bank knows what they are talking about. You are not bankrupt. You have not been bankrupt since you were discharged. I’m sure @fatbelly or @sourcrates can confirm this but you can be an LPA as a discharged bankrupt. 

elsien

Yep, Barclays are incorrect.
Quote this at them which specifically refers to undischarged bankrupts.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bankruptcy-restrictions-on-an-undischarged-bankrupt/restrictions-following-a-bankruptcy-order

flipflopflo

Just double checked on the .Gov site and there it is, it says someone who is bankrupt and you are not bankrupt. So you need to go back to the bank and educate them.

fatbelly

flipflopflo said:

Yeah, I don’t think the person at the bank knows what they are talking about. You are not bankrupt. You have not been bankrupt since you were discharged. I’m sure @fatbelly or @sourcrates can confirm this but you can be an LPA as a discharged bankrupt. 

Correct

I hoped it would be set out in the official guidance but it's so obviously a restriction while bankrupt that it does not apply after discharge.

And it only ever applies to the Finance/property version.

flipflopflo

Thanks for the confirmation @elsien and @fatbelly. 

TwoGuitars

Thank you so much for your extremely helpful replies.  What brilliant people you are.  We have had a bad day thinking about the possible problems ahead if I can’t act as attorney for my folks.  Do you think this is just a Barclays Bank rule as I did bank with them when filing for bankruptcy and my parents bank with them?  if I had banked with another this wouldn’t have flagged up on the advisers screen?  I will pursue this with Barclays, the solicitor and further if I have to.  Many thanks to you all for your replies.

sourcrates

TwoGuitars said:

Thank you so much for your extremely helpful replies.  What brilliant people you are.  We have had a bad day thinking about the possible problems ahead if I can’t act as attorney for my folks.  Do you think this is just a Barclays Bank rule as I did bank with them when filing for bankruptcy and my parents bank with them?  if I had banked with another this wouldn’t have flagged up on the advisers screen?  I will pursue this with Barclays, the solicitor and further if I have to.  Many thanks to you all for your replies.

The devil is in the detail, their policy only applies to current bankruptcies, after 12 months (normally) you become a dis-charged bankrupt.

You will find that bank staff are not experts in things such as this, and tend to apply a blanket response without doing their research first.

TwoGuitars

Thank you.   I will keep this post updated when I get responses from the bank and solicitor.

elsien

You can always invoke the bank's complaints procedure should you need to do so. Ideally it can be resolved without that. 

TwoGuitars

Thank you all for your fast and helpful replies.  I asked the adviser I saw from Barclays to check the details with Barclays legal team.  Thankfully, I can act as an attorney for my elderly folks .  I have to take in the discharge letter along with the same documentation..again.  It was, as some of you said, a lack of knowledge from the senior adviser I saw.   Many thanks again for your help here.