LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY - GUIDANCE ON CHILDREN

McDDDDD

I am currently listing an ‘Attorney’ which is my husband and a ‘Replacement Attorney’ which is my sister, however, when speaking to friends, many of them are in fact having as their ‘Attorneys’ their children who are over 18 years of age. My husband is the same age as me, 51 years, and my sister is 47 years.  I have two children, a son who will be 20 this year and a daughter who will be 15 this year in November.

Three questions:

 1. Considering my attorneys’ ages (51 and 47), would it be more prudent to have my children as equal attorneys?

 2. Do you have to be 18 to be an Attorney?

 3. If the answer to 2 above is yes, do I wait until my daughter is 18 before filing for a LPA, considering that is over 3 years’ time? Or do I file a LPA now and just have my son as my Attorney, and then amend the LPA when my daughter turns 18 and add her, but is that hassle and does it incur more cost as I’m doing it twice?

I don't want to get this wrong - your guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Malthusian

 1. Considering my attorneys’ ages (51 and 47), would it be more prudent to have my children as equal attorneys?

Yes - or they could be replacement attorneys like your sister.

 2. Do you have to be 18 to be an Attorney?

Yes.

do I wait until my daughter is 18 before filing for a LPA, considering that is over 3 years’ time? Or do I file a LPA now and just have my son as my Attorney, and then amend the LPA when my daughter turns 18 and add her, but is that hassle and does it incur more cost as I’m doing it twice?

Do it now and then update it in 3 years' time. It's only £82. The cost of not having an LPOA in place if you lost capacity within the next 3 years would massively outweigh that.

amanda1024

The guidance says when choosing an attorney, think about:

• how well they look after their own affairs, for example their finances
• how well you know them
• if you trust them to make decisions in your best interests
• how happy they will be to make decisions for you

So you would need to think about these points in relation to your son (and daughter in the future).

Marcon

McDDDDD said:

I am currently listing an ‘Attorney’ which is my husband and a ‘Replacement Attorney’ which is my sister, however, when speaking to friends, many of them are in fact having as their ‘Attorneys’ their children who are over 18 years of age. My husband is the same age as me, 51 years, and my sister is 47 years.  I have two children, a son who will be 20 this year and a daughter who will be 15 this year in November.

Three questions:

 1. Considering my attorneys’ ages (51 and 47), would it be more prudent to have my children as equal attorneys?

 2. Do you have to be 18 to be an Attorney?

 3. If the answer to 2 above is yes, do I wait until my daughter is 18 before filing for a LPA, considering that is over 3 years’ time? Or do I file a LPA now and just have my son as my Attorney, and then amend the LPA when my daughter turns 18 and add her, but is that hassle and does it incur more cost as I’m doing it twice?

I don't want to get this wrong - your guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you.

1. Depends if you think a 20 year old would really be competent (and comfortable) in such a role. I wonder if your friends are actually doing what they claim to be doing? It's quite unusual, when there are two mature (but far from elderly!) attorneys available.
2. Yes.
3. Waiting 3 years just to save £82...the cost of not having PoA if one is needed would outstrip that many times. 

Daniel54

To echo others:

Your two current attorneys are both comparatively young and I assume you have confidence that either one has the knowledge and life experience to look after your interests should that become necessary.

Being an Attorney can be time consuming and at times daunting.I can see no problem adding your son ( and later your daughter) to your LPAs ,but I think it would be unfair to impose this responsibility solely  on them until they are mature adults,or unless you have no other choice.

For information,I  only nominated my children as  attorneys when they were homeowners  in their mid 30s.

Savvy_Sue

The new LPAs came in when only our eldest was 18+ so we did a 'quick'n'dirty' EPA naming him alongside each other. Fortunately it wasn't needed (and I think I did it wrong anyway, found it and couldn't quite make sense of it!), and we now have LPAs with each other and all three of them as attorneys. 

I don't know if you could have each other as sole attorney, and your son (for now) to act jointly and severally with your sister as replacement? 

Malthusian

People are understandably questioning the suitability of an 18 year old as Attorney but I think they are missing that  the spouse will be first in line to take over, and if the spouse cannot act, the sister can - if the document is drawn up properly. If the children are appointed jointly and severally with the sister, the likelihood is that they would simply let the older attorney(s) get on with it. For a young adult to be landed with the job, two middle-aged attorneys from separate households need to be out of action and this needs to happen within the next few years before the children mature.

Appointing the son jointly and severally and the sister as replacement would be a somewhat bizarre choice, as if the son is still relatively young, the sister might be more willing and able. The sister could still take over if the son renounced, but that would leave the LPOA without a backup attorney. 

Adding both sister and son (and daughter when she is old enough) as replacements or both as joint/several would usually make more sense.

If the OP has any friends / family that they would rather act as Attorney in preference to their 18 year old son in the very very unlikely event the son is left as last Attorney standing, they should by all means add them to the document as well. 

Savvy_Sue

Malthusian said:

Appointing the son jointly and severally and the sister as replacement would be a somewhat bizarre choice, as if the son is still relatively young, the sister might be more willing and able. The sister could still take over if the son renounced, but that would leave the LPOA without a backup attorney. 

Apologies, I didn't make myself clear. I meant make spouse as first choice, but if unable to act then 'sister plus son' jointly and severally. 

does that make more sense? 

Your other points valid, as I'd expect ... 

McDDDDD

Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment - much appreciated and I will now progress the POA as I am a little clearer.