Multiple financial attorneys on LPA

artyboy

I'm very much an LPA novice but various relatives are at the point of considering them and for some reason I'm getting asked questions so I'd like to help if possible - one key one for starters:

If a person designates multiple attorneys on their financial LPA, does that mean by default they have to act together (unanimously or by majority) or can they act entirely independently of each other?

The hypothetical scenario is the individual becomes incapable - can a single attorney have this 'declared so' (sorry, that's probably not the right technical term...) and then take control of that individual's finances without the other attorney/ies having to consent, or even be notified?

Point of all of this of course is that checks and balances in a complex family environment can be helpful. But only if the LPA framework has them included by default..

Quorden

On the application form there's a choice as to whether the attorney's can act Jointly or Jointly and Severally. Jointly meaning that everyone has to agree rather than acting on your own.

Not sure if there's an alerting system however once you've registered / activated your L.P.A (not just received it) you can use the portal to check what activity has taken place, though not not sure how far this drills down but certainly shows if the L.P.A has been shared with what banks etc.

Just on your point about a single attorney making it 'declared so', the Finance L.P.A has nothing to do with this, in fact it can be used whilst the donor still has capacity. I've got L.P.A's for my daughter in the military for when she's deployed.

May want to look at the Health & Welfare L.P.A as well, though this only comes into effect when someone is judged not to be able to make their own decisions.

For what it's worth, if you go ahead then do it yourself on-line rather than use a solicitor, relatively straight forward but does take a lot of time to get approved.

elsien

They need to consider though that if they put down that the attorneys have to agree and act together, and the attorneys either can’t agree or they can’t get hold of one for any reason,  effectively the LPA fails because it becomes unusable. A complex family background is exactly when you shouldn’t have multiple attorneys fighting with each other.

Sometimes people (my parent included) put down several children as attorneys because they want to be “fair” and not show favouritism.  

When what they should do is actually think about who they trust the most to carry out their wishes in line with what they would choose for themselves if they were able. Without too much dithering, bickering and indecision. 

badmemory

One thing you should make clear to the ones asking you about this.  You should only chose as an attorney someone you trust implicitly.  As for someone being able to just decide to use it, that may be possible now although I doubt it.  I have mine put away as did my mother before me.  We could not use hers until she was ready because we didn't have it in our possession.  I say we because although I was first named, if I couldn't my sister was named as backup.

Savvy_Sue

You can allow some actions Jointly, but require others to be J&S. Our boys have to agree if they want to sell the house from under us. ;-)

bouicca21

I have two attorneys.  I was going to make them joint - i.e. have to do everything together, but then I thought, supposing one of them for whatever reason is out of the country, ill or up a mountain. You get the drift.  So I went for the jointly and severally option.

And just to reiterate what @Quorden said - it’s easy to DIY, and (considering the amount of work involved) surprisingly expensive to do it via a solicitor.

Keep_pedalling

There is a third option and that is to appoint primary attorney and back-up attorneys. The back-up can only act of the primary has lost capacity or has died.

I would never recommend opting for acting jointly the LPA will fail if just one can no longer act.  I have 3 joint attorneys, my wife, my son and my daughter. 

badmemory

I did my own & all a solicitor would do is sit there & ask you the questions.  A will is a different thing altogether.  I knew exactly what I wanted but for example it had never occurred to me that my son could die before me & similar other things.

artyboy

Thanks all, and apologies for the late reply. I think the idea of multiple attorneys comes from 2 angles - firstly to increase the odds that at least one of them is still alive when needed, but also because it would create/force more of a positive consensus view of actions between family members that may all be trying to act in the person's best interests, but may have different takes on what that means in practical terms.

...and that second point is where it gets messy, before you even get to the less savoury hypothesis that one of them goes 'rogue' - not something that anyone would expect, but you just never know what could happen. Sad really to even have to think this way, maybe I've read too many horror stories on the Wills and Probate board!

Anyway, it looks like this person will go with 3 attorneys - instinctively that says to me that requiring a 2 out of 3 majority to take decisions could be a fair check and balance, but ultimately it will be up to them.

The other point about attorneys knowing what actions other attorneys may have taken was preying a bit on Mrs Arty (who might end up being one), because she is concerned she could be held liable for any 'bad' decisions taken by someone else without her knowledge - so it's good to know that you can at least check when POA has been activated, by whom, and with which organisation(s)

elsien

I don’t know if you can set it up to have a 2 out of 3 majority. If I remember correctly, it’s either jointly and severally or all jointly. So planning on three attorneys who can’t agree is not going to make for an effective LPA. 

They can have replacement attorneys from younger generation, if they’re concerned about the attorneys popping their clogs.

Keep_pedalling

There is no majority decision option, you either opt for jointly and severally where any of your attorneys can act alone or jointly where it has to be a unanimous decision.