LPA query as result of BBC R4 investigation

badmemory

It must actually feel quite awful to not have anyone in your life that you feel you could trust to be your power of attorney.

RAS

It isn't necessarily that people don't have anyone they trust enough. It can be that there is another person who could and would make the attorney's life hell and the donor doesn't want to damage another life. 

elsien

I have siblings. Being a very similar age, there is  a possibility they could be out of action before me. I am not yet ready to ask my nieces and nephews because I feel it’s too much of a burden on them at the moment. 

ccluedo

badmemory said:

It must actually feel quite awful to not have anyone in your life that you feel you could trust to be your power of attorney.

It is! 
One of my neighbours is still in that situation as far as I know. In his late 60's, never married, no living family at all.
He told me last year that he had no LPA as he has no one to ask and hadn't written a will as he had no idea who to leave it to. (I suggested local charities since he had a bee in his bonnet about the salaries and expenses of the bigger ones).

He said the LPA situation gives him sleepless nights! I asked about paying his solicitor to take it on but he said last time he used a solicitor was 35 years ago so that would be a stranger. 
He said thankfully he was fit and well at the time and as long as he retained his faculties he should be ok as financially he was quite comfortable so could afford to buy in any care he might need.

Incredibly sad situation tho and one that obviously worries him a lot in the event of ill health. 

Spivved1987

Keep_pedalling said:

I actually just got round listening to the program, and the remarks the OP was referring to seemed rather grange to me, the guy was saying the he personally would not make one at it was scary that 8 million people had done and that most unnecessary. This is an idiotic point of view as although it is true that many won’t be needed no one knows if one will be needed or not but not having one in place when necessity kicks in can cause massive problems for your loved ones. 

I'm glad somebody else noticed the comment by the person interviewed in the programme. It was what prompted my original post. It's a shame the researcher didn't ask him to expand, as he was a legal professional who had prior experience in the public sphere.