UK Lasting Power of Attorney Whilst Resident in Spain

Leodogger

We moved to Spain last year but retained our UK Santander Current Account for our pensions to be paid into.   It is a joint account, but my husband is gradually going deaf and Santander have told me that I nor my daughter who lives here in Spain with us, will not be able to deal with his account in the event that he goes completely deaf, without a copy of a Lasting Power of Attorney.   We have a Spanish one but am told we need a UK one to deal with any financial matters in the UK.    I have had a quote from our UK solicitor which with added admin fees comes to nearly £1000 for two of us so that our daughter can act for either of us if we lose mental or health capacity to deal with our UK bank account.   I did try to get quotes online but it states they will not provide quotes if resident outside the UK.

Can anyone suggest where I can get a cheaper quote from in the UK ?

TIA

eskbanker

Even though longer term health issues could (so LPA is worth doing), deafness shouldn't prevent him from accessing his account?  As with any other business, Santander are required to make reasonable adjustments:

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/accessibility/support-if-you-are-deaf-or-have-hearing-loss

Edit: you can do the LPAs yourself for £92 each if you don't want to pay a solicitor:

This guidance is about LPAs that will be used in England or Wales. Read about power of attorney in Scotland and power of attorney in Northern Ireland.

You do not need to live in the UK or be a British citizen. Your LPA will be legally binding only in England and Wales. For example, if you’re making a property and affairs LPA, it can only be used for your properties and assets in England and Wales.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-lasting-power

Finally, have you checked that the pensions can't be paid directly into a Spanish account?

Keep_pedalling

There should be nothing stopping you accessing your joint account, and going deaf is not a disability that stops you accessing a bank account, so I can’t understand why they are saying this.

Ms_Chocaholic

Does your husband ring the bank often or is he able to use the app? If the latter I can see no reason why he cannot continue to use the account well.  Usually LPA only comes into force if someone loses CAPACITY and going deaf does not mean you lose capacity.

elsien

Ms_Chocaholic said:

Does your husband ring the bank often or is he able to use the app? If the latter I can see no reason why he cannot continue to use the account well.  Usually LPA only comes into force if someone loses CAPACITY and going deaf does not mean you lose capacity.

That does depend how it set up. You have the choice of it only kicking in if you lose capacity but also the choice for someone else to use it with your consent while you still have your marbles. 

That can be handy if you’re in hospital for example or going on a trip and need someone to deal with things while you’re away. or in the OPs case, if the father decides he just can’t be bothered with the hassle anymore. 

And yes, unless you have complicated about it they are very easy to do online. 

Brie

Most banks will allow someone to deal with an account if they have a recent letter of authority.  So basically a letter stating something like "I, Mr Leodogger, authorise my wife Ms Leodogger to deal with my account on my behalf" and then add his address, Ms's address and his signature.  Some banks won't accept an LoA if it's more than 3 months old so this may need to be repeated but it may help before the LPA gets sorted.  

You might also want to see if Santander will allow your daughter to have third party authority on any accounts.  This would mean she can deal with almost anything to do with the account, move money, pay bills etc.  Or make the his accounts joint - this was very easy to do when I added my OH to my account.

MTB1986

Brie said:

Most banks will allow someone to deal with an account if they have a recent letter of authority.  So basically a letter stating something like "I, Mr Leodogger, authorise my wife Ms Leodogger to deal with my account on my behalf" and then add his address, Ms's address and his signature.  Some banks won't accept an LoA if it's more than 3 months old so this may need to be repeated but it may help before the LPA gets sorted.  

You might also want to see if Santander will allow your daughter to have third party authority on any accounts.  This would mean she can deal with almost anything to do with the account, move money, pay bills etc.  Or make the his accounts joint - this was very easy to do when I added my OH to my account.

Inaccurate, I’m afraid. Banks may have accepted letters like that many years ago, but now either a formal third party arrangement or a legal document such as LPA is required. 

squirrelpie

Is it really a joint account, or is it his account that you treat as a joint one? If the latter then organize a proper joint account and you will have control as well. If you wanted you can include your daughter as part of the account so she can manage it as well.

Leodogger

squirrelpie said:

Is it really a joint account, or is it his account that you treat as a joint one? If the latter then organize a proper joint account and you will have control as well. If you wanted you can include your daughter as part of the account so she can manage it as well.

We have a proper joint account and Santander have already told me they will not accept either a Spanish POA or a letter.   It has to be a UK POA !

Leodogger

Brie said:

Most banks will allow someone to deal with an account if they have a recent letter of authority.  So basically a letter stating something like "I, Mr Leodogger, authorise my wife Ms Leodogger to deal with my account on my behalf" and then add his address, Ms's address and his signature.  Some banks won't accept an LoA if it's more than 3 months old so this may need to be repeated but it may help before the LPA gets sorted.  

You might also want to see if Santander will allow your daughter to have third party authority on any accounts.  This would mean she can deal with almost anything to do with the account, move money, pay bills etc.  Or make the his accounts joint - this was very easy to do when I added my OH to my account.

No, I am afraid I already checked, nothing less than a UK official POA will suffice they said.

Leodogger

Ms_Chocaholic said:

Does your husband ring the bank often or is he able to use the app? If the latter I can see no reason why he cannot continue to use the account well.  Usually LPA only comes into force if someone loses CAPACITY and going deaf does not mean you lose capacity.

No my husband has never used a computer and doesn't even use a phone, I have always dealt with everything which was easy when we could go into a branch and he was present.   The last time I tried to get access to information on his pension payments on his bank account, he had to provide his date of birth on the phone and his name and then they were happy for him to hand the phone to me to deal with, it seems all that has changed !