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.

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?

I already had one under Scottish law but moved south so was advised to update to comply with English law. My solicitor quoted £900 plus VAT. A local retired solicitor’s clerk did everything for under £200. I’m useless doing anything on line so to me it was worth it

We did both finance and care POAs for both of us ourselves and it was straightforward so long as you read the instructions carefully. A lot cheaper than employing a solicitor. We made one minor error about a witnesses's date of birth which the office pointed out and we corrected. Overall, it took about six weeks to receive the approved documents.

I guess we’d know if we had some poisonous relative who was likely to challenge it, but there’s no reason why a POA that you complete yourself entirely correctly, would be any less robust than one which a solicitor has filled in for you. You have to get an independent signature/ witness on the forms anyway.

Me and my daughter did it online for both finance and health Cost £80
Why pay solicitors thousands for something you can do yourself it takes a few months to complete

I notice this topic comes up from time to time. The consensus is usually 'do it yourself - it's easy'.

It may be straightforward in the majority of cases but I have a close friend whose older half sister is trying to challenge the power of attorney arrangement for their father who now has Altzheimers. Power of attorney was overseen by a solicitor who attested that the father was capable of making decisions regarding POA at the time. The half sister is making the family's life a misery, sending social services and police to my friend's mother and keeps up a steady stream of vile comments to the rest of the family. The half sister is also trying to get access to her father's bank accounts but he doesn't always remember how poisonous she became to his second wife and family and that he had no intention of allowing his oldest daughter to have any say in decisions about his care should he no longer have capacity. The solicitor in this case has been able to support the family and they are getting to the stage of taking out an injunction. It has all turned very nasty and the whole family have been affected.

'Do it yourself' POA may not always be the best way, even though it is cheaper.

You just have to do the forms in the correct order, correct signatures and dates etc, just follow the instructions.

Thank you so much for your very interesting replies. I will look at completing these documents ourselves . I am still waiting for Age concern to telephone me back. They helped my friend with hers. but like every department they are so busy. I will also get some quotes from a couple of Solicitors first out of interest. I heard Citizens Advice help as well. Thank you all once again. Smile

We did ours online. Can’t remember how much we paid but it was a lot less than the quotes we had from several solicitors. As others have said, the directions given are very clear so follow them carefully.

Do it on line! And if you get stuck, contact the Office of the Public Guardian for advice.

I updated my will and took out both lasting powers of attorney at the same time in 2020 cost me £1,100. I thought it would cost more but the solicitor got everything done quickly and was very helpful.

I would always use a solicitor for legal matters. Did you know your will can be contested up to 2 years after you die by anyone who thinks they have a claim on your estate. Glad my solicitor has made mine water tight.

Updating our wills and our Powers of Attorney cost us almost £2,000. I am horrified with the cost and feel we have been ripped off. Our own fault for not shopping around. Our very reasonable original solicitor had retired so we just naively went with the one who had bought his business over. Never again.

Did mine with my usual solicitor..£300.

Not personally, but my aunt is applying for me to have Power of Attorney. Started back in March and we aren’t there yet. Cost £600

Did it online, cheap and easy.

I did my own and then got my solicitor to just check it. He did it for free.

Did mine six months ago. Two nominated sons for welfare & finance. £501.

Dad paid for one of them through his solicitor when they updated their wills. It cost quite a lot so we did the other one with him ourselves, online. No problems.

Solicitors do charge different fees. So ask around. Also make sure that the company you go to has a solicitor qualified and specialising in dealing with Powers of Attorney and that you are seeing them.

We did ours - both for finance and health and welfare - ourselves. Much cheaper! You really don’t need a solicitor. However you do need to read the instructions very carefully and check that you’ve adhered to them 100% - or it will be rejected and you’ll have to start again - and pay again.

We did find it all perfectly straightforward.

Apologies! Neighbour quoted £600.

So long as you read the instructions and follow them properly it is perfectly easy to do it yourself, I think it’s about £100 to register now. I did both the health and finance ones for myself.
During a recent conversation with a neighbour he told me hi

Did it online, much cheaper.

Takes a while, you have to be organised and methodical, but if you follow the guidance step by step, it’s not difficult.

I did mine myself it required concentration and following instructions carefully I think it cost around £80 but if I can manage it anyone can.