Wills/POA

cookie666

My mother is alive and well, but we are trying to set things up in case things happen. A long time in the future, all going well, but I have a couple of questions and would appreciate input, as Google is giving me so many different answers.

She had a will a long time ago, she can't find it now, and the solicitor who had it has ceased trading, and no one appears to know where his paperwork is.

So, looking at getting a new one for her, Which.co.uk had one for around £50, which seemed very reasonable, she has her house (under £200K), and her savings would be less than £50K. She's said she'd want a straight split between 5 children, so is this an easy thing to do? She does not do online though, so I'd need to help her with it (am I allowed to do this as a conflict of interest etc).

Secondly, I've heard we should have a power of attorney, one for health and one for wealth, if I read it correctly.

I've seen that you need to register a POA with  https://www.lastingpowerofattorney.service.gov.uk/login?cookie=1, do any of the services automatically do this for you?

Reed_Richards

The will would need to consider what should happen if any of the 5 children predecease your mother.

cookie666

Automatically changing to divide by the number of living children would be the case.

cookie666

My main question is can I do the online bits on her behalf, she'd still have to sign it herself.

Reed_Richards

cookie666 said:

Automatically changing to divide by the number of living children would be the case.

So you don't want to make any provision for any descendants you or your siblings might have now or have by the time your mother has died?  Let's say your sister, call her Ann, has two children but dies before your mother.  You don't want those children to inherit what would have been Ann's share?  I think they would if your mother died without making a will. So in a way, you would be asking your mother to write her will so as to disinherit them.     

p00hsticks

cookie666 said:

My main question is can I do the online bits on her behalf, she'd still have to sign it herself.

To what 'online bits' are you referring ?
As far as I'm aware there aren't any for making a will, unless you are going to use an online will writing company - and then, as you say it needs to be printed by someone to be physically signed. 

Note that a beneficiary to a will cannot also be a witness to the signature (or more precisely, they can but would then forfeit their inheritance, sp yo uneed t ofind two independent witnesses. 

I'm not sure how much (if any) of the POAs can be done online - the document requires multiple signatures, so again I think you just print off the online forms, fill in the  paperwork and then post them off to register them. 

Unless she definitely doesn't want any children of children that predecease her to inherit their dead parents share, then at the moment a will is not as much of a priority as the POA's as the intestacy rules will achieve what she wants anyway. 

mta999

if you are talking about the Which will service where you fill in online questions then yes, you can help her fill it in but make sure no coercion etc. If possible could one of your siblings also be there, or a friend of your mums or someone else - just as a witness?

Which will then create a will, have it reviewed by their solicitor and your mum will then have to sign it in the presence of two witnesses

elsien

Your mother also needs to decide who she wants to act as power of attorney for her. 

If she has five children, who does she trust the most to carry out her wishes? She needs to have a couple of attorneys but having five who may disagree even if the LPA is jointly and separately is going to cause complications should they ever been needed. 

And sometimes people want to put everyone down because they don’t want to upset the children who are being missed out, or see  it as being unfair in some way.

LPA is very straightforward to do yourself. but I would suggest it’s a good idea to actually print off the forms for her to look at and think about before launching into doing them. Example - for the health and welfare one she needs to decide whether she wants her attorneys to make decisions about life-saving treatment, or whether that’s something she would want to leave to the doctors. 

Also, does she want the finance one to only kick in when she loses capacity or does she want people to be able to use it while she still has her marbles (with her consent) which can be handy if she’s ever hospitalised or becomes physically unwell.

Brie

You might also want to get third party authority on her bank accounts too.  Possibly with another sibling just for transparency.  We did this with my mom where there were 2 of us that could handle the account when she was less able to do so.  I really was just there for oversight but could have stepped in to pay bills if my siblings health (which wasn't grand) worsened.  

elsien

Although the third-party bank mandate is only for when the person has capacity so they can cancel or amend it at any point that they wish. 

If they lose capacity that party access should stop. 

And obviously it is completely up to the person whose bank account it is whether and who they wish to add. 

bunnygo

regarding the will, if you contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority they keep track of where documents go when members cease trading. Of course a new will would override a previous one.

powers of attorney; yes, she needs to set up both with your help. Cost £82 to register, the only difficult bit may be finding a 'certificate provider' who can't be an attorney or witness. LPAs can be generated online to save writing, but then need to be printed out and taken round the signatories IN THE CORRECT ORDER. You then send them off with the fee.  Once registered, there are a few more hoops to jump through for the attorneys to create online accounts, need to do that within a year of registration. Then tuck away access details until needed.

the financial one can be used whenever she says so, the health and welfare only comes into play if capacity is lost.

Each financial institution has a different way of registering the LPA, once done the attorney can run all the finances. Keep records of course. LPAs end at the moment of death.

For health and welfare,  she needs to decide if she wants attorneys to have the power to refuse life saving treatment. Bear in mind there are situations when that is exactly what should be done. She may also want to consider an advance directive, which costs nothing and is lodged with the GP; dignity in dying have the template. The other one is a 'do not resuscitate' order which only a GP can make.