Lasting Power of Attorney - Family Disagreement

JuliaMary_2

Hello
Not sure if this is the right place to post but grateful for any advice/signposting.
We have an elderly widowed father.  4 siblings, the youngest of whom lives with my Dad (has never worked and various issues but has, to be fair, looked after my Dad in his old age). 
It's just come to light, today, that the youngest sibling has got my dad to complete a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) form putting all financial control solely in his (the youngest's) name.
It appears the form was sent off in the last week or so and they're still waiting for the court/office of the public guardian to verify it.
My Dad is quite old and getting a little confused and is very trusting - of his own children - and thought it was only if he became mentally incapacitated.  However, it seems the LPA has been completed for the youngest to take control with immediate effect.
My Dad,  now realizing what's happened, wants it revoked and all (or at least 2) children put on the LPA and for it only to be triggered if he is signed off as medically unfit by a Doctor.
However, I've been on the gov.uk site and it appears the revocation can only occur once the LPA original certificate is returned (ie once the court issues the certificate)
We don't want to wait until this point as i) the youngest could empty my Dad's bank accounts or even sell the house from under him and ii) he is now not responding to requests to share information on what he submitted etc.  It was all done very much by the youngest misadvising my Dad that it was in his best interests: my Dad doesn't even know how to use a computer so the youngest was printing off, completing forms etc. 
What legal rights does my Dad have? He is not diagnosed as medically unfit but does get easily confused - hence we think he was too trusting and got hood-winked into signing the LPA solely to the one sibling; thinking it would only trigger if he was medically diagnosed.  
I am going to call the Office of the legal guardian tomorrow to try and stop them from processing the form but not sure if they will take much notice of me.  Once they do process it though the youngest will have complete financial control. 
I'm not sure if we should be moving to solicitors straight away but I'm really scared for my Dad as this one form seems to have signed over complete control over all his finances and assets.  He now wants to change it but doesn't know how. 
Grateful for any advice, please. 

gsw55

Has your father made a will. It doesn’t fix the LPA issue but it’s another issue to consider.

JGB1955

Your father will be sent the 'official' POA document - not your brother (although I CAN anticipate an issue with his post being hi-jacked).  He can then revoke it - see Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney: End your lasting power of attorney - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

KxMx

It's currently taking 20+ weeks for LPA's to be certified through the court and returned.
So there is no immediate cause for concern. 
As you are not the attorney or donor I doubt the OPG will accept any instructions from you, but they should be able to give general advice. 

tacpot12

JGB1955 said:

Your father will be sent the 'official' POA document - not your brother (although I CAN anticipate an issue with his post being hi-jacked).  He can then revoke it - see Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney: End your lasting power of attorney - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This is not correct. The Attorney can be asked to be sent the POA, and it is likely that they have done so. It's just a tick in a different box.

Who was the Certificate Provider on the PoA? It would be as well to talk to them before calling the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), as they should have checked that your father had capacity to make a PoA and that he was not being coerced. If the Certificate Provider says that he had capacity and there was no coercion, then you are also going to have to think about whether you can show that the Certificate Provider didn't do their job properly, because the OPG will talk to the Certificate Provider if you make a complaint. it might be easier if the Certificate Provider were to call the OPG and say that on reflection they think they should not have signed the form. 

Legally your youngest sibling cannot use the LPA unless your father has lost capacity OR your father allows him to use it. If your father were to tell the youngest sibling now that he does not give him permission to use the LPA until he loses capacity, the sibling will be in serious trouble if they do anything before your father revokes the LPA, if this is his wish. I would suggest that if he wants to tell his child this, that he does so in front of all the siblings and that the conversation is recorded on a couple of smart phones.  

tacpot12

It is also worth remembering that the youngest sibling has been living with your father and so knows his mental state  better than you do. Families tend to underplay or be unaware of the difficulties people have as they get older, and your sibling may know that your father doesn't have the capcity to manage his money himself and so needs it to be managed for him. He should have discussed it with the whole family, otherwise it looks underhand, but it may just be that they know there is a 20 week delay, and felt they needed to crack on with getting a PoA in place. 

Keep_pedalling

Although financial LPAs are effective once registered with the OPG while the donor still has their mental faculties in place it can only be used by the attorney(s) with the donors permission, so he needs to be made aware of that.

The main problem with this LPA is only having a single attorney as if anything happens to them the LPA fails. 

I think the best course of action here is for you father to make a new application with all three siblings appointed at attorneys (to be able to act jointly and severally) and submit it once the current application has been granted. 

Malthusian

JuliaMary_2 said:

However, I've been on the gov.uk site and it appears the revocation can only occur once the LPA original certificate is returned (ie once the court issues the certificate)

The admin can only be done once you have the LPA (because it needs to be sent back) but the deed of revocation can be done right now. Note the required wording (emphasis added):
1: I granted a lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs/health and welfare (delete as appropriate) on [date you signed the lasting power of attorney] appointing [name of first attorney] of [address of first attorney] and [name of second attorney] of [address of second attorney] to act as my attorney(s).
He's already signed it so you just fill in that date. The date the POA eventually comes back from the OPG is irrelevant.
I would do two deeds of revocation and send one off to the OPG now (with a copy of the POA if you have one) explaining that he doesn't yet have the POA back. They may be able to cancel it. If not, you just follow normal procedure and send the second one off when the POA comes back.
In the meantime, send a copy of the deed of revocation to his bank and any other providers you think the son may try to access, explaining that while he has made an LPOA signed on [date], it has been revoked as per the enclosed and on no account should they accept it.
Does his bank allow a "third party mandate"? It is not as good as a POA, but if they do, it might allow you to monitor the account before the new POA is completed.