Arranging a Lasting Power of Attorney online

SueEH

I did mine online and it’s very straightforward.
I hope you’ve got it solved now but I definitely added my three children without any problem.

Thank you so much, and to everyone who offered advice. I’ve completed it online and just need it to be signed before sending it off. 🙏

I did mine online and it’s very straightforward.
I hope you’ve got it solved now but I definitely added my three children without any problem.

You can phone the Office of the Public Guardian and request free copies of the POA forms to be sent to you by post. They also include a very helpful brochure clearly explaining what needs to be done on each page. I did this and found it very easy.

If you are trying to save paper/ink then be aware that some pages are instructions. Don’t print those

Juneandarchie1

I have done POA for finance but held back on the health one.
Reason being, as I read it, you either give you health rights to your children or a doctor, non of which is an option for me, as I would prefer them all to come to some sensible agreement been them all. Or was I looking into too much ?

Juneandarchie1 if you don't name your children on a Health PofA the medics are not obliged to come to an agreement with them. The medics will act in what they believe to be your best interest - even if your family say that this is absolutely not what you would have wanted.
In my father's case doctors were determined to keep him in hospital and try to prolong his life despite him being 95 with advanced heart and kidney failure - and despite us knowing dad just wanted to be left in peace in his own home.
I bitterly regret not having the Health PofA for him

I have done POA for finance but held back on the health one.
Reason being, as I read it, you either give you health rights to your children or a doctor, non of which is an option for me, as I would prefer them all to come to some sensible agreement been them all. Or was I looking into too much ?

I haven’t got around to doing mine and this is a timely reminder. My son lives overseas and is currently here for a holiday. Do those named on the LPA have to sign their acceptance? My daughters are in the UK, eldest is nearby and one a couple of hours away (but much more methodical with admin tasks). If I should name all three of my children, the conversation may as well happen while my son is here, and he can sign something if he needs to.

My husband and I have not long completed our online LPAs and they have been accepted and registered. Please do not hesitate to contact the Helpline, my husband and I needed to do this on two occasions we found them very helpful. You do need to be very careful with the wording you use for your Preferences and Instructions but there are lots of articles online which we found very helpful and making note of these we did not have any problem and our LPAs were accepted and registered. Good luck.

I did my myself.I sent for the forms and guidance notes and
completed it.£82 ,a couple of years ago.If you follow the guidelines, you can’t go wrong.No need for a solicitor.

silverlining48

It took me 3 attempts before I got my health and welfare one right. Silly mistakes not helped by doing all 4 ( health snd wealth x2) at the same time. Really frustrating snd in retrospect I wish I had done my dh and my LPO separately but one of our children lives abroad, so signatures would have been awkward.
Take your time and be very careful with signatures, dates and initial any mistakes.
It is actually easy to do this yourself, don’t rush it. Solicitors will charge for their services plus £90 for each which does mount up.

I did the same as you a few months ago - both types of POA for both myself and OH.
Filling the forms in online was easy, but like you, I reached a point where I wished I had just done my own first.

I got there in the end, and by some miracle all four POAs were accepted the first time, but it took an awful lot of checking and re-checking, and concentration to make sure that the right people were signing the right pages and in the right order!

Pippa22

I keep putting off doing my POA’s and it worries me.
If I do it online do I have to print all the pages out or do I just do the forms with my kids and submit to have them printed and returned for me to get them signed ?
I don’t have a printer but if I have to print the pages it would still be cheaper to buy one than to pay solicitors fees.

A fairly basic printer would certainly be cheaper than a solicitor’s fees,, but could you not get one of your children to print the forms off for you.?

I keep putting off doing my POA’s and it worries me.
If I do it online do I have to print all the pages out or do I just do the forms with my kids and submit to have them printed and returned for me to get them signed ?
I don’t have a printer but if I have to print the pages it would still be cheaper to buy one than to pay solicitors fees.

Hi. You can pay for assistance but if your affairs are uncomplicated (probably 95% of people) then it’s not really necessary.
There’s a lot of good advice and guidance on this site www.lpa-agency.co.uk/

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice.

Arranging a POA is so much easier nowadays. I did ours some years ago . Thankfully the office has changed as my first attempt ( for my mother over 20 years ago) was refused due to a comma in the wrong box. Nothing so pedantic nowadays
BUT you need to heed warnings
when my brother died I had to send his form back to the Office of the Public Guardian with a certified copy of his death certificate and also my POA so his details could be deleted from mine. The office didn't read the attached letter and separated the 2 forms. Whilst my brother's POA was dealt with, my form was returned asking for a certified copy of a Death Certificate. That had been sent in the same envelope as my brother's POA and my POA..
So you need to send in 2 copies of the death certificate if you have 2 forms to amend. Don't rely on the office reading a letter which clearly states what needs to be done and certainly will not see that one death certificate can be attached to another.

I did mine 20 years ago (in my 50's), straightforward but you need to concentrate. Glad that the govt sorted an easy method to do this, and the zero fee for those on benefits. Everyone should do it asap.

Martin Lewis does an excellent guide regarding Power of Attorney.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/power-of-attorney/

The POAs will still need to be printed off so as to capture actual signatures. Just a tip - follow the instructions and don't staple the pages together afterwards, or they'll reject it and you have to start again. We used paperclips and that was accepted. I was a bit worried about sending so many separate pieces of paper without them being clipped together in some way.

Mine is all in one POA

I did my aunts from a distance with the help of the Citizens Advice office. It went well.

I am in exactly the same boat as yourself.

We just printed the forms off (for both) and filled them in. You do need to read the instructions very carefully, though, particularly as regards signing and dating.

But it’s perfectly straightforward - no need to pay a solicitor.

I printed these off and did them myself. They are long but there is loads of advice on each page. If people have money to waste then they can pay a Solicitor or specialist LPA adviser, but - honestly, no real need of this.

Yes, there are two - Health and Finance. Do make sure that you keep all the printed papers for each of these separately. Each page shows which it is at the bottom.

I made the mistake of using one page from a finance one with my Health one - and (obviously) got it thrown back at me.

Also do note, that if you are on some benefits (like me on Pension Credit), there is No Charge for having these registered.

Thank you for your advice. I won’t rush it, and intend to complete it online to avoid solicitor’s charges.

It took me 3 attempts before I got my health and welfare one right. Silly mistakes not helped by doing all 4 ( health snd wealth x2) at the same time. Really frustrating snd in retrospect I wish I had done my dh and my LPO separately but one of our children lives abroad, so signatures would have been awkward.
Take your time and be very careful with signatures, dates and initial any mistakes.
It is actually easy to do this yourself, don’t rush it. Solicitors will charge for their services plus £90 for each which does mount up.