Has anybody any experience of applying for Power of Attorney..

You can do it yourself online initially - print the paperwork and work your way through. As someone said above, you do need to be methodical - I wrote a flow diagram - as things have to be signed in a certain order.

I had no problem with it at all - it was very simple. And the Office of the Public Guardian, who oversee this, have people who will guide you through this is you give them a ring.

There is a charge for registering the PofA (which you will also pay when you use a solicitor), which we did straight away, but there is a very generous fee reduction scheme - it is means-tested but at the time I did it ignored savings or outgoings and was just based on income - as we were both pensioners we got a reduction. The fee is now £82 per power, so if you do finance and health and welfare for both of you, you multiply by 4.

Having this for my OH was such a help when he was so ill. I was able to sort out all the care fees; and when he was very ill at the end I was able to take the decision not to send him into hospital and to let him die peacefully without invasive interventions and a clinical environment - the documents were accepted without question.

I was about to ask the same question until I saw these posts. When my poor old dad needed me to go to the building society etc for him I asked the local branch about this. They said go to Smiths and get a form to fill in. I did exactly that. I only needed to do the first part as he didn’t own property. I named myself and brother as executors. It must have been simple as I filled it in on the train as I went to see him. I got the neighbour to witness it (gave her a bottle of wine) and in the evening my brother visited and she witnessed his signature as well. My dad signed of course. The building society took a copy of it and I was able to deal with his business. This was 17 years ago but I remember it met our needs. There was a further part involving propert which wasn’t applicable. Now we need to acquire power of attorney in order for our daughters to deal with our affairs as we are in our eighties and the worse can happen. However, we have a house so things are a bit different. Would like to be able to do it ourselves so will have to find out about it.

I did my mother's after she was quoted £500 by a solicitor. It did take a while to get my head round it. That said, the online forms have clear guidance and you can save as each section completed and return later. Once all completed print off, have a trusted friend confirm that you have capacity, get it all signed in correct order and send off to the Office of the public guardian with their payment fee. After doing one, it felt much more straightforward getting mine and DHs done.

Did it on line for my mum. One thing you must remember is that any family members must be told you are doing it and agree to the person named or they can contest it.

Whilst we have done our own LPAs, as in my post above, I have and would always use a solicitor for our Wills, as much more complex.

pensionpat

We have both kinds of POA in place. It was very straightforward to do it ourselves. They are registered with Court of Protection. Of course we are hoping that they will not be needed. But whose decision is it. Ours? The appointees? I know the papers will need to be shown to the bank. From that point would I be able to operate my account or would I be deemed to be unable to make decisions?

pensionpat we have had both PoA in place for several years since my Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She died four years ago.

Dad now has vascular dementia and it's only recently that we've taken over managing his money. He was finding everything too confusing and making decisions about his money that were not sensible.
We had to sort it out for him and he was happy to let us do so.
Obviously we explain everything we do to him but he doesn't always remember!

As an attorney you have to be able to show you've acted in the person's best interests at all times.
My brother, sister and I communicate with each other and fortunately all get on.

As long as you have confidence in your attorneys you shouldn't have any need to worry.

Thank you V3ra. I trust my appointees absolutely.

I've sent you a PM pensionpat

Have wills done by solicitor but LPAs done for us re our son. Appeared quite easy. Need witnesses.

I wanted my PoA done properly for both finance and welfare so I went to a solicitor. She spent a lot of time with me and asked a lot of questions, while assessing that I was sound of mind. She signed the documents and so did I and my attorney. She had previously written my will too. I think PoA was £800. She had it registered and I can sleep at night, knowing that everything has been done properly

Previous to that, my husband and I did the usual downloaded forms but tbh the meeting with the solicitor, after I was widowed, threw up more complicated questions. Being widowed, it is very important for me and my attorney that I get this important document done correctly with no chance of any innocent mistake

It is easy enough to complete but you need to carefully follow the instructions for order of signing as mentioned above.

I’ve had mine rejected as the signature order of signing was incorrect.

Mum paid £300 for solicitor recommended by Age Concern. Finance and welfare. Easy and quick to do, they drafted and registered it, so no hassle at all. Would certainly recommend looking at which local firm is endorsed by Age Concern. This was in Scotland, about a year ago.

I applied for POA to manage my daughters finances, I just couldn’t cope with the health side as well. I did it all online which was easy and straight forward. I was then able to open a bank account for all her money to be paid into and she had no access to. I then paid money into her own current account for her spending on food, and anything else she wanted to spend it on. But there is a point, I was only suppose to do things with her permission but it then went to the Court of Protectiln where it was judged that she wasn’t capable of handling her finances.

karmalady

I wanted my PoA done properly for both finance and welfare so I went to a solicitor. She spent a lot of time with me and asked a lot of questions, while assessing that I was sound of mind. She signed the documents and so did I and my attorney. She had previously written my will too. I think PoA was £800. She had it registered and I can sleep at night, knowing that everything has been done properly

Previous to that, my husband and I did the usual downloaded forms but tbh the meeting with the solicitor, after I was widowed, threw up more complicated questions. Being widowed, it is very important for me and my attorney that I get this important document done correctly with no chance of any innocent mistake

Doing it yourself does not mean it is not done properly. As others have said, and I said above, I did this and the documents were fine when the time came for their use. And very clear directions on the website and from the authorities on the phone.

It is fine if you felt happier doing it via a solicitor, but it is important that people also know that this can be done properly by doing it yourself. Some might be put off doing it at all by the cost of a solicitor, and it is important that it is done.

Exactly lucky.

MMh have to confess I felt it might be too complicated and stressy on line so went to our village solicitors. This was August LAST YEAR. The Branch was taken over by another company. Finally everything was completed a few months ago. My DH finally received his copy (as did our daughters) about a month ago and I'm still waiting..... Was going to use them to update my Will but for obvious reasons have decided against this.

There really is no need to hire a solicitor to arrange your own Lasting Power of Attorneys. It's perfectly acceptable and much cheaper to complete the forms yourself. It costs £82.00 per LPA - you need two, one for Health and Wellbeing, and one for Property and Financial Affairs.

Here is a link to the Gov.uk website where the forms and full instructions are laid out clearly.

www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

The POA online is easy, and straightforward, it gives you plenty of time to do it in baby steps if you find it all to much in one go and the language is in plain English, easy to understand. It was Nick Clegg who gave the go ahead for it to be online as a diy tool.

Thankyou all so much for your replies. It has been very useful.

Could some kind person please explain something. If I do POA online how are the signatures made? Read that I have to print them off and get them signed but then what do I do? Do they have to still be sent off in the same way as those downloading forms and filling them in. This is puzzling me so would welcome some clarification as it supposed to be quicker online. Thank you for any help you can give.

Lovetopaint037

Could some kind person please explain something. If I do POA online how are the signatures made? Read that I have to print them off and get them signed but then what do I do? Do they have to still be sent off in the same way as those downloading forms and filling them in. This is puzzling me so would welcome some clarification as it supposed to be quicker online. Thank you for any help you can give.

Print off and after signing etc in correct order, send to office of public guardian in post, in an A4 envelope. They will then send back to you once they've checked and stamped them. You then store until needed yourself. The online instructions are relatively clear. There is a fee of about £85 which can be paid on line.

I did mine (both sorts) on line. No problems, read and obeyed the rules.
I had to go to my local library to have all the paperwork printed as I don't own a printer myself , but it still came out MUCH cheaper than paying a solicitor to do it.
I kept things simple , mind you.

Thank you Apricotdessert (love the name). That is just what I needed to clarify the procedure. Prefer to pay on line as feel it is a little more secure and I can print extra copies.

When they issue you with POA they will ask you how many official copies you want. These will be the ones you use and they have a bar code or something on each page to show they are the official ones. Banks etc will want to see these rather than any you print. I copies mine onto my computer making sure the code at the end of the page could be seen and then just use to send it by email to the countless people who wanted to see it

*Barmeyoldbat”do you mean that after you receive the forms back they ask you if you want copies or is it on the forms as a request when you send them off.