Power of attorney replacement.

Sparklypot

My brother in law has dementia and is being cared for. My sister currently has POA but at the time had to apply for it after he lost capacity . She is very ill and if anything happens to her,who will take over his POA? Would  a replacement have been nominated  at the time (we are unable to ask her currently)or would we need to apply for a new POA for my brother in law.
Would  the care home have a copy of his POA?

Many thanks.🙂

Flugelhorn

The care home may or may not have a copy - you need to ask them. It is up to the individual as to whether there is more than one attorney listed. If there isn't and your sister is unable to act then  I think you need to apply to the court of protection to be a deputy for your brother in law, he will not be able to be a donor for a new PoA if he has no mental capacity. 

this is from a solicitor's site:
"

What happens when the only/last attorney dies before the donor?

The effect of an attorney’s death on an LPA depends on how the attorney(s) were appointed.

If the only attorney named dies, the LPA becomes ineffective – it can no longer be carried out and another must be written up (if the donor is still mentally able to sign off on this).

If the donor still requires someone to make decisions on their behalf but cannot appoint a new attorney, an application to the Court of Protection for the appointment of a deputy might be necessary."

Sparklypot

Thank you🙂. I thought this might be the case. We will check with the care home when we next visit. Just want to be organised as we know how long the process is.

Keep_pedalling

You can’t obtain POA after someone has already lost capacity (not legally anyway) are you sure she did not apply for deputyship?

If your sister can no longer act then POA or deputyship will fail and someone else will need to apply for deputyship. It would probably be wise to start to apply now as it is long winded process. 

Does your sister have her own POA in place? If not that also needs to be sorted as a matter of urgency along with reviewing her will if it was made a long time ago or she does not have one.

elsien

it does sound very dubious applying for a power-of-attorney once he’s lost capacity so again it may be a deputyships. Although it is still possible to do an LPA if you have lost capacity another areas because capacity is time and decision specific. 

You can check with the office of the Public Guardian with regards to who is nominated as LPA or deputy. 

They usually get back to you within a few days. Yes, the care home should have a copy but in my experience they don’t always ask particularly when it comes to finances rather than health and welfare.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/search-public-guardian-registers