Want to set up lasting Powwer of Attorny.

Do it on line, it’s very simple to do you don’t need a solicitor. If I can do it without a problem almost anyone can!

The Office of the Public Guardian, who administer it, are really helpful.

I did ours myself - there is lots of help online from the office that kitty has referenced.

I could not see why I should feather a solicitor's nest. You just have to be systematical; about it - I drew a flow diagram!

You don't need a solicitor. We printed the forms; filled in by hand; got witness signatures etc. Rang helpline a few times for queries. Sent it off and all fine
A friend did hers in the same way but used a "checking" service (you can find them online) paying about £80 for that service

I have registered to do it on line but stumbled at the first question. “If you need to be resuscitated, should the doctors or your daughter make that decision?” Sitting alone on my computer, I did not know if my daughter wanted that responsibility. She does not live nearby and is very busy with work and kids. It is hard for us to sit down together and fill in the forms. So I thought a solicitor would be quicker.

As I said, the people at the Office of the Public Guardian are helpful - and free!

The solicitor will need to talk to your daughter as well for the very reason you had a problem with the first question.

Bets to make arrangements to visit her with the forms and talk the whole thing through.

The guide is as helpful as any solicitor could be. A solicitor will charge a few hundred £s to fill in the forms in addition to the registration charges stated.

www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

If you fill it in as you think and save it, you can then send your daughter the link and tell her your login info so she can have a look and a think about it in her own time.

There are two versions of LPA. One is about health and the other about money, and you really need both.

I did it on line with my children. So we discussed it as we went along.

We have recently done ours online, for both finances and health and welfare.

Re the 'do not resuscitate' question, there is a space for you to add your own wishes as regards H and W, which will serve as guidance for your attorney.

Mine was extremely specific as to what I would or would not want, in the case of my being unable to both speak (with mental capacity) for myself and care for myself.

E.g. in the case of dementia or a disabling stroke, I emphatically do not want interventions to prolong my life - I ask for palliative care only.
Dh has used the same wording.

I dare say we have been influenced by many years of two parents with dementia, one of whom had it for around 15 years and was in a most pitiful state when she finally died at 97.
Also, re DNR, a neighbour who was resuscitated after a 2nd or 3rd heart attack, told me he wished they'd just let him die, since the after effects (cracked ribs etc.) were so,painful. He did in fact die anyway a few months later.

Question to the Grans who have done their LPA on line. How can you get the attornies, witnesses etc to sign an online form?

You need to print it off and post it, I think.

If you need to be resuscitated, should the doctors or your daughter make that decision?” Sitting alone on my computer, I did not know if my daughter wanted that responsibility. She does not live nearby and is very busy with work and kids. It is hard for us to sit down together and fill in the forms.

How will it work with her being POA then?

Does anyone know how to change a POA to another person?

Just googled it.

You need to go to the .gov site
www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/change-your-lasting-power-of-attorney

Hope the link works

Or contact the Office of the Public Guardian by phone. They are very helpful.

Alygran thank you!

Notanan, hopefully I will not need my LPA for a while yet by which time my grandkids will no longer be toddlers and my daughter will have time to help me.

As far as resuscitation goes, you can lodge an Advance Statement (sometimes called a living will) with your doctor and keep a copy yourself. Alzheimer's Society have templates on their website as, I think, do Ageuk.

A note re Resuscitation: you can opt out but you can't opt in, i.e. you cannot insist that you DO get resuscitated. Like any invasive medical procedure medics cant be forced to do it if its not medically appropriate, but if they do deem it appropriate you can then decide not to consent to have it done.

If you definitely dont want it done, documenting it in your POA paperwork will NOT prevent it from being done. You need to also go to your GP, get a community AAND AND get it noted on the 999 "out of hours" system and keep a copy in a medic alert container in your fridge

Personally I would leave it to the medics & POA to docuss in light of the individual factors as and when they come up, because the success rate and recovery from Resuscitation varies HUGELY depending on the cause of the cardiac arrest.

A recovery from a drowning or a bleeding cardiac arrest, where the cause is fixable and one-off, is very different from recovery from an arrest from recurring pneumonia.

A cardiac arrest during certain procedures can be resuscitated relatively easily with shock alone, no broken ribs etc. Recovery is not much different from anyone else who has that procedure...

There is no way of covering all bases in advance IMO...

With regard to the questions about “what you want” in certain circumstances. The best thing to do is to make a Living Will and put it in a sealed envelope with the PoA. That way your wishes are kept private until required.

My mother and step-father both made Living Wills. In both cases the Doctors were very understanding and sympathetic. It stopped my step-father going into ICU, when all he wanted was to die and join his wife. It allowed me to not have treatment for mother when she had a stroke.

You do t have to make the Living Will at the same time as the POA. Get that done and then think about it. It does take a lot longer for the POA to be done by the Solicitor and is much more expensive

How can you get the attornies, witnesses etc to sign an online form? They opened it via the link and login, then printed the page that needed signing, got it witnessed and posted it to me.