Power of attorney.

And it is not only the 10 weeks to register it. If you decide to invoke it with the bank you need to make an appointment with the bank,take along two means of identification and you are given forms to complete with the numbers of all accounts held there. You will then be asked what you need as to bank cards, cheque books ,paying in books etc. whether you need these in both names or just one. You then return these with the POA docs which has every page photocopied. This is then sent to Head Office and you wait for cards etc to be delivered. One mistake was made in our case by RBS so they all had to be sent back. So it can take many weeks before you can access funds.

I believe you could have anybody as your attorney, but would you want to trust someone you don't know very well with decisions about your health and long term care if the need arose? You can also have more than one attorneys.

We applied to the COP in February 2013 and got our Deputy papers in July 2013. They were wrong and not sorted till the October. Fortunately the bank honoured the care home fees for Aunite.

Also at least one person other than the attorneys have to be notified in writing about your LPA.

We had a solicitor draw ours up. She explained about how many attorneys we could have, the difference between them acting together or individually, what happens if you wish to change attorney, why it ought to be registered and most importantly why we should/should not give power to our attorneys regarding things like being out into care or DNR notices.

It was only £100 each, plus the registration fee which is fixed anyway. I felt it was money well spent.

Can you invest poa in an institution/office such as your firm of solicitors, or does it have to be an individual?

When one elderly parent has dementia, it is certainly time for the other one to nominate someone for POA.

I don't remember how long it took for ours to be finalised. There was no rush so it didn't matter.

Why does it take that long? Is it just because of who is doing it? Nothing else in life takes so long!

If it takes ten weeks for the registration to be completed, then it couild be ten weeks before you could access someone's money, or take vital decisions about their health.

There was a phone in about this on R4 a few weeks ago and I seem to remember them saying to just draw them up and register when you need them.

If you want to change anything once they are registered is there a charge? It could be very expensive if you set one up then got married, then divorced then your attorney died etc.........................

Following on from some of the above posts, it would seem that even young people in their 20's should set up poa as soon as they have finances to manage. They too can be rendered incapable in an instant due to accident or ill health. At what point do you start?

We set ours up two years ago after a long and expensive process via the Court of Protection to look after an auntie with dementia when her husband suddenly collapsed and died. We nominated each other and our two DDs to act jointly and severally. This last point is important if you want collective decisions about your money or care or to make it easier for one person to get something done. Our original COP deputy authority only gave 'several' permission for action for Auntie which caused issues as there were 3 of us named so we had to go 'mob handed' to bank etc. appointments. This was an error by COP but took 3 months to sort! Certainly worth getting it done while you still have capacity.

As I understand it they all need to be registered as soon as they are completed. The solicitor who spoke to us said it is currently taking 10 weeks to be registered,but the person giving the Power does not have to, I think the term was invoke the power until he/she feels the need.It remains also in their power to revoke it until they give their attorney the power to act.

The phrase "don't register until it is needed" is all very well, but these things do have a habit of being needed suddenly when you are least expecting it. Someone in the early stages of Altzheimers, say, is not going to be all that alert to the need to dig out the POAs and get them sent off to be registered before they get any worse. They are too busy coping with a world that is becoming increasingly complex and puzzling.

Get them registered WELL BEFORE they are needed. If you change your mind about the nominated person, you can take action.

annsixty someone I know paid £2k to the CoP for a mother in law. He was furious and didn't understand why they wanted so much but I think it is perfectly reasonable that they check if the person wanting to manage someone's affairs is doing the right thing.

This post reminded me to tell DS's they should think about setting these up. Anyone could have an accident at any time and need one, you don't have to be old!

pompa, sorry, it will be shoes and DS3 has as many pairs as I do and far more than his wife.

Twice in the last 15 years, under the old system and the new, I have been involved with setting up POAs for elderly people, who had suddenly become unable to manage their affairs and it was a nightmare.

Apart from anything else it took some time to sort out, in one case this meant I actually paid the care fees for my aunt and uncle in a care home for two months because my uncle wouldn't sign cheques for anything over about £100.

Fortunately I had the money available and obviously reclaimed it when the POA, but not everyone will be in that position.

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion for anyone over 60 not to have set up POAs and made a will is an act of selfishness or incompetence.

several points from the last few posts.

Yes - you need to set up both LPA's before you become infirm, you don't have to register at that time, your attorneys can register for you BUT ( a big but) if there are any problems at that time it gets complicated. Much better to draw up the application and get it registered asap.

The online application is very straight forward, there are some questions that you may find difficult to answer (eg, what to do about life saving treatment) BUT, even if you get a solicitor to draw up the forms he will still need you to answer those questions.
In defense of the solicitor charges, it does take several hours to print off the forms (something in the order of 15 pages for each LPA and then thoroughly check them. However it is not a difficult task, well within the capabilities of the average person. So spend a few hours yourself and go spend the £1000 on something more exciting(Ladies, that does not include shoes)

I would also mention the help line, they are very helpful and patient.

Nonnie I have just been on a course where part of it was about POA and if a person becomes incapable of appointing an A a deputy is appointed by the Court of Protection who may or may not be a family member and the fee payable is as you said but then each year every penny paid out on their behalf has to be accounted for backed up by bank statements and a fee paid every year, approx £5/600. Far better to set it up while everyone is able and knows what the wishes are.

Last week a neighbour asked me to witness hers which they had paid a solicitor to draw up. When I looked at the forms they were the ones from the Internet. I don't see any point in asking a solicitor to do something so easy to do yourself.

Imo we should all get both types drawn up and signed but don't register until they are needed. If you don't have one of these and becoming incapable of looking after your own affairs your family will have to go to the Court of Protection which I heard costs £2000 and has to be done again every year.

But you do have to remember to register the LPAs with the relevant departments (the Office of the Public Guardian or something like that) or they are not legal.

There are two areas for Lasting Power of Attorney, one is Financial and the other is Health and Welfare. I'd strongly advise anyone to have both. The function of the first is obvious but the one for Health and Welfare was invaluable for us when my late MiL became incapable of managing herself.

I suggest you try the online system, nothing is set in stone, the documents are easily revisited and changed should you find errors or wish to change them - we changed ours several times before printing out the final copies.
You don't have to pay anything until everything is signed and you are ready to register.

Our solicitor wanted £1000 on top of the fees to do it for us.

Thanks for that info pompa. I had no idea it could be done online.

We have just completed our POA's using the Government online web site. It was very easy. Took about half an hour to enter the data for 4 POW's . about 2 hours to thoroughly check everything on the print outs. We then got all the various signatures required using the check list provided. WE then completed the registration documents online and sent them off.

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

It costs £110 to register an LPA unless you get a reduction or exemption. (each person will require 2 LPA's)

I suggest you start by request the info pack online, that will explain the process and give suggestions for some of the questions asked.

How exactly do you do it? Is there a DIY version?