Power of attorney - when to register with the banks etc?

podgy

I have a power of attorney for my parents. They both have all their faculties still, which is great. I'm just wondering do I register the powers of attorney with their banks now, or wait until any loss of faculty comes?
Grateful for your thoughts/experiences.

Rhubarbium

I’d register it as soon as possible. I didn’t and ended up under quite some pressure when my mum was taken to hospital and wanted me to look after her financial affairs and I had the hassle and time delay of registering the LPA with financial institution despite the LPA having been sorted years previously.

Brie

Asap. Because it takes time which you have now and might not want the hassle later.  

Keep_pedalling

It’s not up to you while your parents have their full faculties, it is up to them. 

Snot

Is online access needed ?
Once your parents agree, it's worth checking with the banks if they still allow online access once the POA is registered with them, some only allow telephone or postal access once it's activated.

lr1277

With the Fnance and Property LPA you should register is straight away. If you are not aware, you can start taking actions on behalf of one or both your parents before they lose capacity as long as you have consent for taking said action. Say they no longer want to deal with a bank and want you to do it instead, you can do that as long as the LPA is registered with the bank.

Edited to add: You should also register with utilities and any other organisation to whom your parents pay/receive  money. Obviously get their consent before doing this.

For a Health and Welfare LPA you will only be able to make decisions on your parent's behalf when the parent has lost capacity. Until that time, any decision made by the donor will be followed by the medical practitioner.

Sorry if this sounds morbid, but you should also have the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) conversation with each of your parents. Medical staff (including ambulace staff) will only ask you that question either when your parent has lost capacity or it is possible the parent will lose capacity whilst they are under medical care. This was more important during covid when somebody might be admitted to hospital and you as the attorney might not see them or their medical staff or days/weeks, as happened with my dad.

Malthusian

Lasting Powers of Attorney should always be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian as soon as they are signed (because it takes months and it means any mistakes can be picked up while the donor still has capacity).

There is no real need to register them with banks in advance. The advice in this thread to do so isn't wrong, but if you don't, the electricity isn't going to be switched off. It can also be a waste of time if they change banks before losing capacity. And some people are quite understandably reluctant to give their children full access to their finances when they are still fully capable themselves.

I would leave it up to your parents. If they gain reassurance from having the LPAs registered with the banks in advance, it makes sense all round.

You should certainly not send the LPAs in without asking them first, as that is equivalent to going round their house and rifling through their drawers to read their statements.

podgy

Thanks everyone, from what you say it seems I don't need to register the LPAs quite yet.

MelBoy64

To add to the above I would say do not underestimate how long the process of registering the LPA with a financial institution can take and how (unnecessarily) difficult some institutions make the process. I am doing one or two institutions at a time just to keep things simple and it has taken me several months. I am just dealing with YBS who have been, in my experience, by far the hardest institution to deal with.