Powers of Attorney

Romola I submitted both health & welfare and financial POA application forms on the 3rd August 2023. Both cheques were cashed within 10 days. I heard nothing more until the 13th January 2024 when the finance POA was received, followed by the healthcare POA a week later. So 6 months in total.

Finance LPA came through quickly about 6 years ago. After DH died it seemed sensible to put in place a health one for me. Hope it doesn't really take several months. Why should it?

Doing LPA with my Mum was one of the best things we did.
We did both parts Health & Welfare and Property & Finance.

We did it via the Govt site. It was dead easy if you just go through slowly and follow their tips. I think it was about £80 for each part. Some people on certain benefits get it free.

It was invaluable when Mum was in care homes and hospitals as we had often talked about how she wanted to be looked after, by whom and where. As mum’s dementia worsened I was able to make decisions for her about her heath needs and care.

Likewise the Property and Finance part allowed me to pay her bills, care home fees etc. it also meant we could sell her home to pay her care home fees. So many places asked to see the LPA documents, it was really important that I had all these.

When I did mum’s LPAs I was advised not to put anything too complicated into the preferences and instructions as it could make the LPA difficult to operate. For the financial one I left those sections blank - this was easier for us anyway as mum had lived with me for many years with joint ownership of the house and a joint bank account which made things easier.

For health and welfare mum wanted to specify that she didn’t want to go into full time care unless it was a last resort. She also specified no extraordinary measures in the event of a major health event, as she was advised that she was at high risk of major stroke/heart attack, which would likely leave her with very poor quality of life. It was my understanding that anything specified as an instruction would be treated as an advance directive.

Floradora9

Have you said whether the decisions made on your behalf need all to agree to it or can only one person make a decision ?. This is important .

Ours have named dds to act ‘jointly or severally’. We fully expect them to be in agreement, but can’t know in advance what circumstances might exist.

Germanshepherdsmum

You may become incapable of telling them and they may not look for your will until you die. This is not the way to deal with it. You may very well care about what is being done but be unable to express yourself,

Your last sentence expresses exactly why we added our particular wishes to our Ps of A.

SueEH

kittylester

PoA is for while you are still alive, Wills are for after your death.

Yes, I’m aware of that and I have a will. I will just tell my children to have a look in the same place for any preferences that I might have come up with.

The problem with this is that without a Lasting Power of Attorney, your wishes may not be followed because your children will have no authority to challenge decisions made by health care providers and local authorities. For example, I have my Mum’s LPA for health and welfare. She has dementia, and during a recent hospital stay she was assessed for care needs so that she could be discharged. The hospital social worker interviewed mum without me being there and asked her if she wanted to go into a care home, despite the OT advising that she was nowhere near that stage and her mobility was expected to improve. Without an LPA I would have had no authority as her next of kin to challenge a decision to put her into care. As it was, I was able to point out to the SW that mum had put an advance directive into the LPA specifying that she didn’t want to go into a care home unless it was a last resort.

Primrose53

Romola i think you’ll find the current wait is several months.

This is why everyone should get a POA in place. DD2 has one as she is unmarried. Don't wait until you're older.

Romola i think you’ll find the current wait is several months.

And, by the way, don't expect a quick turn-round!
I applied on the 6th November, having gathered all signatures etc. in the right order.
I received a letter from the Office of the Public Guardian dated 24th November to say that they must wait four weeks for any concerns or objections to be raised.
After that time, they say they "aim to send the registered LPA to the applicant within four weeks".
I know Christmas has intervened, but I am still waiting.

Have you said whether the decisions made on your behalf need all to agree to it or can only one person make a decision ?. This is important .

You may become incapable of telling them and they may not look for your will until you die. This is not the way to deal with it. You may very well care about what is being done but be unable to express yourself,

kittylester

PoA is for while you are still alive, Wills are for after your death.

Yes, I’m aware of that and I have a will. I will just tell my children to have a look in the same place for any preferences that I might have come up with.

That was added to the Health and Welfare Ps of A of course.

Because of far too much experience of dementia, in particular, we both added roughly the following:-

‘If I should develop dementia, or any other condition where I am unable both to care for myself, and speak - with full mental capacity - for myself, then I emphatically do not want any life-saving or life-prolonging treatment. I ask for palliative care only.’

The bit about the attorneys making decisions jointly or separately is covered in the questions.
The boxes the OP asks about are for specifying beliefs etc. that you want to be followed once you are incapacitated.

We left those boxes blank.
If our children need to use them we want them to act as they think fit. We don't want to affect their mental, physical or financial well being because of legal restrictions we placed on them.

PoA is for while you are still alive, Wills are for after your death.

tanith

I think I left it mainly blank my children know me well enough to make decisions I’d approve of I think. As you say we would most likely be beyond caring anyway.

Yes I think I agree. I’m going to add a letter of intent to my will regarding a couple of small bequests to godchildren which I’m sure my children will honour so if anything comes to mind re a POA I’ll just pop it in there and will tell children to check.

I think I left it mainly blank my children know me well enough to make decisions I’d approve of I think. As you say we would most likely be beyond caring anyway.