Who to have as PoA??
Sea_Shell
Posts: 9,340 Forumite
Hi all
We have no children, we do have siblings, but they are of the 'same generation' as are our friends. We're not really 'that' close with our friends.
Our nieces and nephews (is there a collective name for these??) are all still under 18, and as yet we obviously don't know if they are going to turn into mature, trustworthy adults!!
It's widely advised that you should only appoint someone of a younger generation for PoA, to avoid having to re-do them as we age I guess, but who??
Currently we know no-one under 30, never-mind someone who we are close enough to, to ask to be ours.
What have you done in our position?
What do you advise? Wait until the N/N's are older?? (we're only 45-55 bracket)
We know we should get sorted....but it's a bit of a dilemma at the moment.
**** Another Question ****
If one has been making a regular cash gift of £££ each month for say over 3 years....is a PoA still able to carry on making these payments, even if the PoA themselves are the recipient??? Would they have had to get written permission from the Donor (before they lose competance) that they wish these payments to continue.
Also if these payment have been ongoing for a while, and then the question arises for the need for Care, would they be considered Dep of Assets going forwards, if they continue to make these gifts??
Thanks again.:beer:
We have no children, we do have siblings, but they are of the 'same generation' as are our friends. We're not really 'that' close with our friends.
Our nieces and nephews (is there a collective name for these??) are all still under 18, and as yet we obviously don't know if they are going to turn into mature, trustworthy adults!!
It's widely advised that you should only appoint someone of a younger generation for PoA, to avoid having to re-do them as we age I guess, but who??
Currently we know no-one under 30, never-mind someone who we are close enough to, to ask to be ours.
What have you done in our position?
What do you advise? Wait until the N/N's are older?? (we're only 45-55 bracket)
We know we should get sorted....but it's a bit of a dilemma at the moment.
**** Another Question ****
If one has been making a regular cash gift of £££ each month for say over 3 years....is a PoA still able to carry on making these payments, even if the PoA themselves are the recipient??? Would they have had to get written permission from the Donor (before they lose competance) that they wish these payments to continue.
Also if these payment have been ongoing for a while, and then the question arises for the need for Care, would they be considered Dep of Assets going forwards, if they continue to make these gifts??
Thanks again.:beer:
How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.31% of current retirement "pot" (as at end March 2024)
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Comments
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As you have suggested, wait 5-10 years and assess the nieces and nephews. You should have a good idea of their suitability by the time that they're in their 20s.0
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As it is pretty easy to do this yourself, I would be doing a POA with your partner as POA for each otheras things can happen when younger.
For instance if one of you had a stroke or became incapacitated and had accounts in their own name them the other person would not be able to get access to any of the funds, they would have to go to the court of protection which could take time.
We did ours last year and I think the cost was around £130 each we just did the finance one, but I think the cost could have come down since.
You can then revisit it a few years when you have sussed out your nieces and nephews for suitability.0 -
I'd do one for each other for now and see in a few years if you want to add another person for each of you.Don't listen to me, I'm no expert!0
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No problem for either of us accessing funds in the short to medium term, as we have many sole/joint accounts and/or investments.
Does this mean we don't really need them yet...and can wait till the N/N's are (much) older?
As for health & wellbeing....is a spouse able to make those decisions if the other party has lost capacity, without PoA?How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.31% of current retirement "pot" (as at end March 2024)0 -
Just another thought.....
Would you be happy/confident to have someone as PoA, who may be in a very different financial situation, i.e. skint.
Can you ever trust someone 100% with £000,000 of your assets, if they have PoA and are a bit short on their bills one month and decide to 'dib-in'. Could the temptation just prove too great, if they are struggling to put food on the table.
How would they ever get found out???How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.31% of current retirement "pot" (as at end March 2024)0 -
Have you made a will? If so who are you leaving the estate to? Personally if I'd made a will I would consider making the PoA in favour of the beneficiaries.
If you have 2 or more PoA's then you can make it so that they can only do things jointly which would make it more difficult to misuse the funds.
PoA' are now £95 as they reduced in price in April (just after I registered mine:mad:)0 -
My wife and I always had joint ownership of all our assets but we had to depart from that simple scheme when we invested in ISAs as an ISA can only be held by an individual. I guess that in the event of one of you becoming incapacitated that only renders half of the ISAs inaccessible.0
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No problem for either of us accessing funds in the short to medium term, as we have many sole/joint accounts and/or investments.
Does this mean we don't really need them yet...and can wait till the N/N's are (much) older?
As for health & wellbeing....is a spouse able to make those decisions if the other party has lost capacity, without PoA?
Why wait if you're going to be each other's poa at some point? Its a separate form and fee for each person you give poa to so it's no cheaper to wait and do others together. Having joint accounts does help in the short term if something incapacitated either if you. However if you have individual utility accounts, mobile phone accounts, pensions, ISAs, etc then they have no authority to talk to a spouse.Don't listen to me, I'm no expert!0 -
Would you be happy/confident to have someone as PoA, who may be in a very different financial situation, i.e. skint.
I would. If they're skint that suggests they aren't a practiced fraudster - if they were a fraudster they wouldn't be skint.
Slightly less glibly, it depends on what kind of skint we're talking about. I probably wouldn't give power of attorney to someone who'd been on benefits their whole life and spent every penny that came into their hands, but I would give it to someone of modest means who'd always lived within them.Can you ever trust someone 100% with £000,000 of your assets, if they have PoA and are a bit short on their bills one month and decide to 'dib-in'. Could the temptation just prove too great, if they are struggling to put food on the table.
How would they ever get found out???
If you appointed more than one attorney (e.g. two of your nieces/nephews) the other one would find out as soon as they checked your bank statements. The latest it could possibly come out was when you died and the beneficiaries enquired into where all your money had gone. It might come out earlier if their raiding of the bank account results in your care fees bouncing or similar. Whoever found out would alert the Court of Protection and they would step in. The dishonest attorney would go to prison.
If you wanted to scam an elderly relative out of their savings, you wouldn't use a Power of Attorney. You would forge their signature or sign them up for online banking and use their login details. If anyone has suspicions you simply say that the relative gave you money of their own free will and challenge them to prove otherwise. Using a power of attorney on the other hand leaves an obvious paper trail. Attorneys cannot make gifts (unless previously authorised), least of all to themselves, so if you use a power of attorney to transfer funds into your own bank account you are signing your own arrest warrant.
There is very little risk involved in granting a power of attorney as long as you exercise the tiniest amount of discretion in whom you give it to. You are no more vulnerable to being defrauded than you would be anyway as a person who has lost mental capacity.0 -
Lots to think about. Thanks for all your replies.How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.31% of current retirement "pot" (as at end March 2024)0
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