Lasting Power of Attorney - 'Jointly & Severally' question

ConfusedCF

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right board to post in, it seemed the most relevant category...

My Mum would like both healthcare and finance POA set up (as a precautionary measure), and for my brother and I to be her attorneys.

I understand that the decisions will either need to be made jointly, jointly & severally, or jointly for some decisions, and jointly and severally for others.

My brother and I get on well & tend to agree on most things; I know the 'jointly and severally' option is the most common choice due to its flexibility & practicality.

My question is: with 'jointly & severally', if one of us made a big decision eg selling her home, and the other disagreed with this, does it mean the one who disagreed cannot contest this decision?

We're tempted by the 'jointly for some, jointly & severally for others' option, and listing the decisions that would have to be made together...but the downside is that if my brother or I died or refused to make the decision, then the POA stops working.

Interested to hear anyones thoughts.

Thanks!

Brie

I think that this is where a letter of intent comes in.  I know on my mom's POAs (not UK but might be relevant) there are specific things mentioned like she's specified do not resuscitate or take extreme measures which recently lead my siblings and myself into a discussion of what measures were extreme and what weren't.  Fortunately mom recovered and we didn't need to actually make any decisions on her behalf.  But disagreement is awkward and may lead to ongoing splits in a family.  The death of one attorney does in many ways make things easier in that it's all down to them without having to go for a consensus of any sort.  With us there are 4 siblings and the POAs read that any 2 of us can make a decision but this is based in part on availability as we live on different continents.  And the fact that the POAs were drawn up decades pre zoom.  Many organisations are ok dealing with things more by phone as well as some version of zoom when family matters need to be discussed.

Brie

needs to be moved to the correct board.

tacpot12

My view is that it is better that all decisions can be made jointly and severally. If someone is likely to make a bad decision, they shouldn't be made an attorney. It is better that someone can make the decision, even if others think it isn't a good one. Usually when a decision has to be made, any decision is better than none. 

Keep_pedalling

Is it really likely that such a major decision would ever happen where it is not needed? Much more likely to encounter problems with having to make decisions jointly.

bouicca21

It comes down to a question of trust.  I trust my children, so went for jointly and severally.