Power of Attorney - Which one ?

equityone

Not sure if posting in correct place..

In process of taking Equity on our house. Both in our late 70's in good health etc.

We have been advised to have a Power of Attorney.

Which should we do with one of our children in their 40's/50's.,

advice please.

Stubod

..you should both do both PoA's!!!! (ie Health and Wealth), you can both be PoA's for each other, then when one of you "goes", the other one can nominate one / all of your children….

elsien

you will also need more than one attorney or at least a replacement one. Not essential but just good sense.

And if you are being advised to take one out which comes with a hefty fee, you do know you can do it yourself online a lot more cheaply if you require a straightforwards?

Ms_Chocaholic

When you choose your attorneys, choose at least two so that if one dies/becomes incapacitated themselves, the POA will still be valid. Make sure you choose "jointly and severally" though, if you choose "jointly" and one of the attorneys becomes unavailable the POA will fail.

I echo above, it's easy to do online yourself, the website allows you to start a form and then delete it and start again so you can have several tries before you get it the way you want it. The other tip was when people sign it try to get them to all sign it on the same date, it needs to be signed in a certain order but if everyone signs it on the same date you can't go wrong.

Keep_pedalling

For our financial LPAs we have appointed each other and our two adult children as attorneys and the attorneys can act jointly and severally. Having a single attorney should be avoided as should having multiple attorneys who can only act jointly.

Although I recomend getting both Heath & Welfare as well as financial, it is the lake of the latter that will cause the greatest problems for your loved ones if you lose mental capacity through illness or accident.

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147895#Comment_82147895

What happens if the 2 attorneys don’t agree? I have LPA for my parent. I’m the only one for finance as sibling would likely disagree with what parent would want on issues like paying for private medicine. The fact that my sibling and I have joint and several for health is largely redundant as she doesn’t have control on the finance. (I did make the point that having only one isn’t sensible, but if there is only one person you trust, it’s difficult).

I’ve been implemented LPA finance recently. Don’t underestimate the hassle. Every bank and BS seems to have different procedures for implementation. Also the knowledge of LPAs from branch staff is shockingly poor in some cases.

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147905#Comment_82147905

That is a good point, If that happens where you have appointed them to act jointly then the LPA fails. If appointed to act J&S then any of your attorneys can act alone. If you have children who you don’t think can work together in your best interests or they are at loggerheads before you even tart your LPA appoint the one you trust the most as your prime attorney and the other one as a back-up attorney.

FlorayG

In my LPA I have specified which attorney has precedence, so if there is any disagreement that person has the final say. My LPA was done with a solicitor so I know this is allowed

elsien

I am aware of someone who has just had their LPA removed, because they were in disagreement with the other two attorneys. Long and costly process via the court who had to decide which of them was acting in the person’s best interests with regards to where they lived.

It was difficult because everyone thought they were doing what the person would have wanted, it wasn’t someone taking advantage. They genuinely thought they were doing what was right but simply couldn’t agree on what that was.