DIY LPOA

peteh1

Hi, Wondering if anyone has DIY'ed a LPOA and if so how difficult it proved, ours is a simple married couple situation where we want our children to make the future decisions so I guess about as straight forward as can be ...

thanks.

Keep_pedalling

It should be straight forward. Ours both have 3 attorneys, each other and our 2 children all can act jointly and severally. We have added no specific instructions as we are confident they would act as we would wish should we lose mental capacity.

elsien

 I did them for my mother for both finances and health and welfare. We did make one mistake which meant that one of her preferences couldn’t be included, otherwise would’ve had to start the whole process again. But that was my fault for not checking the signatures properly.
Otherwise unless you have complexity in your affairs it’s pretty straightforwards. What we did find helpful was printing the form off and Mum going through it a bit at a time and then we sat and discussed it together. That helped her to think about what she wanted, but it also helped me to understand more clearly what her wishes might be in the future. Those conversations are important if you’ve not already had them.

You could also look at making an advance decision around future treatment if you do get ill, to go alongside the LPA.

peteh1

Thanks for both replies, think the idea of printing forms is a good one, as we would want to state the LPA only becomes active once both of us are unable to make our own decisions, not sure if that would need to be written in a certain way ?

KxMx

Wouldn't need to be written a certain way, as that is one of the tick box options within the form. 

elsien

The finances one has the choice on the form of using when you have capacity or only when you lose capacity. The health/welfare one only becomes effective when you lose capacity.

I would suggest you have another think about only when you can't make your own decision. No-one can use it to override your wishes while you are able to make your own decisions, and it can be useful if you are physically unwell. My grandmother was housebound while still having all her marbles so she preferred someone to be able to go to the bank and pay bills for her because the difficulty in getting out and about was too much for her. (Internet banking was the devil's work!) 

peteh1

Thanks again for both replies, glad that its a tick box option rather a form of words (that I might have got wrong), will print forms and see if that throws up any additional queries ....

Keep_pedalling

peteh1 said:

Thanks for both replies, think the idea of printing forms is a good one, as we would want to state the LPA only becomes active once both of us are unable to make our own decisions, not sure if that would need to be written in a certain way ?

I would not do that for finances, you may find in future that you want one of your attorneys to jointly manage your finances. This wad the case with my mother when her physical health was the major issue, it enabled me to use her account for shopping and to move over to online banking (she never used a computer or smart phone).

Malthusian

peteh1 said:

Thanks for both replies, think the idea of printing forms is a good one, as we would want to state the LPA only becomes active once both of us are unable to make our own decisions, not sure if that would need to be written in a certain way ?

As others have said, that is not a good idea. It prevents you from using the LPA when the donor still has all their marbles but is physically frail. It can also prevent you from using the LPA if they are "in and out" of lucidity and losing the ability to deal with their finances, but you can't yet get a doctor to certify that they have lost capacity.
It also makes no logical sense. If you don't trust your attorneys with the power to make decisions for you when you are fit and well and can countermand anything they do, why would you trust them when you're no longer able to stop them?

peteh1

Thanks, some good points raised, will maybe have a rethink re when the LPA becomes active, still undecided if I will go the DIY route, but thanks to all for the guidance so far.

peteh1

Just one more question, am I right in thinking that just one person is required as a witness, who can then sign off the numerous sections (as opposed to a different person per section).