Lasting Power of Attorney question

2childmum2

My DH and I are currently filling in the forms for a LPA.

My husband is currently working and plans to retire in about a years time.

I do not work, and apart from a couple of part time jobs have not worked for 26 years.  Any money either of us has is in joint accounts and is considered 'our' money.

This will continue when my husband retires - I have a very small pension so most of our income will be from his pensions.

We would like to specify in the LPAs that this arrangement should continue - ie money from his pensions or my pension should be considered as 'our' money and used to pay for joint bills etc, and any personal needs we both have. 

 Is this possible?  I am aware that decisions made should be in the best interests of the donor, but also that they should be made based on what the donor would have wished.  There is also mention in the guidelines that the attorney cannot 

• paying maintenance for any family member other than the donor’s wife, husband, civil partner or child under 18
•   

which seems to imply that we could ask for payment to each other, but I cannot find guidance about this

Many thanks

Marcon

2childmum2 said:

My DH and I are currently filling in the forms for a LPA.

My husband is currently working and plans to retire in about a years time.

I do not work, and apart from a couple of part time jobs have not worked for 26 years.  Any money either of us has is in joint accounts and is considered 'our' money.

This will continue when my husband retires - I have a very small pension so most of our income will be from his pensions.

We would like to specify in the LPAs that this arrangement should continue - ie money from his pensions or my pension should be considered as 'our' money and used to pay for joint bills etc, and any personal needs we both have. 

 Is this possible?  I am aware that decisions made should be in the best interests of the donor, but also that they should be made based on what the donor would have wished.  There is also mention in the guidelines that the attorney cannot 

• paying maintenance for any family member other than the donor’s wife, husband, civil partner or child under 18
•   

which seems to imply that we could ask for payment to each other, but I cannot find guidance about this

Many thanks

Yes. See the section headed 'Preferences and instructions'.

2childmum2

Thank you.  I have read that section (that's where the quote re maintenance comes from) but I can't find anything about whether wanting the donor's money to be counted as belonging to both of us would be allowed,  particularly as we will be attorney to each other.  I found a solicitor's website which said we would have to go to court to get permission as the attorney can't benefit from the donor's money, even if the donor had giving instructions or preferences to say that is what they wanted.  But that is the solicitor's opinion, so I am trying to find any other information about this.  We can't be the only people in this position!

p00hsticks

2childmum2 said:

I do not work, and apart from a couple of part time jobs have not worked for 26 years.  

At the risk of hijacking this thread somewhat, the sentence above jumped out at me.
Have you checked your State Pension forecast and if necessary considered making voluntary payments to improve it?
 https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 The deadline for going back to 2006 is April 2025 so you need to act quite quickly.....

Sunny_Day_123

Marcon said:

2childmum2 said:

My DH and I are currently filling in the forms for a LPA.

My husband is currently working and plans to retire in about a years time.

I do not work, and apart from a couple of part time jobs have not worked for 26 years.  Any money either of us has is in joint accounts and is considered 'our' money.

This will continue when my husband retires - I have a very small pension so most of our income will be from his pensions.

We would like to specify in the LPAs that this arrangement should continue - ie money from his pensions or my pension should be considered as 'our' money and used to pay for joint bills etc, and any personal needs we both have. 

 Is this possible?  I am aware that decisions made should be in the best interests of the donor, but also that they should be made based on what the donor would have wished.  There is also mention in the guidelines that the attorney cannot 

• paying maintenance for any family member other than the donor’s wife, husband, civil partner or child under 18
•   

which seems to imply that we could ask for payment to each other, but I cannot find guidance about this

Many thanks

Yes. See the section headed 'Preferences and instructions'.

Just jumping on this as the question made is a good one and will help my form filling. 

Just wondering whether placing something in Preferences, as opposed to Instructions, would allow more flexibility should anything arise. 

Is there a particular view on which section would be best please?

2childmum2

p00hsticks said:

2childmum2 said:

I do not work, and apart from a couple of part time jobs have not worked for 26 years.  

At the risk of hijacking this thread somewhat, the sentence above jumped out at me.
Have you checked your State Pension forecast and if necessary considered making voluntary payments to improve it?
 https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 The deadline for going back to 2006 is April 2025 so you need to act quite quickly.....

Thank you for mentioning that. I need 2/3 more years for a full pension. I  worked for 10 then have years credited from looking after the children. I also topped up a couple of years from when I had part time work so some NI credits. I ended up at home longer than intended - one of my children has learning difficulties and needed me around more, then COVID hit and now my health is not brilliant and my elderly parents are beginning to need more support, so I don't think I will be finding a job now. It may be that they will need enough hours help that I will be credited with NI for caring for them, so I will put off paying for the extra years for a bit.

Savvy_Sue

The thing is, your attorneys could do this anyway, even without a specific instruction. So I don't think it matters if it is outside the PoA, BUT if it's not part of the PoA you do need to make sure that it's kept very safely with it. 

Mind you, I think your wording in the first post was perfectly clear. It also (to me) gives scope for increasing gifts (assuming you can afford it) as time goes by. If you've been used to spending - say - £20 on birthdays, then giving £100 might be excessive, BUT after a few years not so much! 

I think knowing and trusting your attorneys is key to this. I know that if MiL gets her wish of becoming a Great Grandma, she'd want to mark the occasion very generously!!! 

Savvy_Sue

Personally I'd go for Preferences, because there may eventually be advantages in your finances being more separate, eg ISAs can only be in one name, and there might be savings to stash away. But the principle of it all being 'our' money could remain. 

2childmum2

Two different threads seem to have become merged together here - mine re whether we can still count money as 'ours' and one by sunny day 123 regarding gifts ( which was originally posted as a separate thread before I posted my question).
This is making the thread a bit tricky to follow. Does anyone know how to get them untangled?
Thanks

Alphatauri

I agree the two have become tangled up. 

Click on the report red flag at the bottom of your post and ask the mods to untangle. I think most responses are not related to your post. 

Alphatauri

@2childmum2 I think Macron’s post is relevant. You can both set out what you want in the preferences section. 

Your DH could  state something like - Mrs 2childmum2 and I have had shared finances since. All income and savings are considered joint even where they are in one persons name. If I am not able to act all income and savings in my name or joint names should continue to be considered joint or ‘our' money and used to pay for joint bills etc, and any personal needs we both have.