PoA on death - what I've learned

CarolWHerts

Dealing with my late mother's estate as executor I discovered a couple of things I wasn't aware of before in respect of the PoA's that I held to act on her behalf. 
First, the government's 'Tell Us Once' service does not include the Office of the Public Guardian - you have to notify them separately.
Secondly, when you do notify them they will require you to send them all PoA documents and copies. This has meant an extra trip to the solicitors to retrieve the originals, which I could have done at the same time as I retrieved the will, if I had known. 
This information is all buried in the relevant bits of the government website, but I only picked it up when checking a query in respect of our own PoAs. I knew that the PoAs fall away as soon as the donor dies, but I hadn't clocked the reporting and return of documentation requirements. 
Hopefully this may help someone else. 

tacpot12

I'm not sure you can say that the information is 'buried'. It is here: Lasting power of attorney: acting as an attorney: Changes you need to report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  But I agree it isn't highlighted, and could easily be missed. I have used the "Report a problem with this page" button on the Tell Us Once service page to ask for something to be added to the webpage to tell people that they need to inform the OPG and visit the page about to see what needs doing when a donor dies.

TonyMMM

Interesting - I had POA for my late mother who died a few years ago and never informed the OPG ....they haven't ever contacted me since so I think I'll just leave it !

Savvy_Sue

TonyMMM said:

Interesting - I had POA for my late mother who died a few years ago and never informed the OPG ....they haven't ever contacted me since so I think I'll just leave it !

I think that's our experience also, and although you can see the concern about using such documents fraudulently after death, the risk is minimal if banks are informed promptly.

AlsoGrumpy

@TonyMMM , My family just received a letter from the Office of the Public Guardian, eleven and a half years after my Mother's death. Trying to find out why; I believe it was a result of a new solicitor having a 'tidy up'.

The unsympathetic person I spoke to at the Office of the Public Guardian said that until they're notified directly, the POA stays on file.

NedS

I wonder why the Tell Us Once service doesn't include notifying the OPG? Maybe it's not included due to the requirement to also return original PoA documents, hence is not a simple notification of death.

bunnygo

this is interesting! I was using the old style enduring power of attorney, with consent - capacity was never lost so it was never registered with the OPG.

Naturally I stopped using the power as soon as the donor died, all the financial organisations were notified and all the accounts closed.

The IHT forms asked for a copy so I sent one, all went through and probate granted subsequently.

the 'practice note' online only refers to notifying for registered EPAs, so I think I'm ok unless anyone knows different…