Power of attorney

Yes I did financial and health ones for my MIL, no problem it was excepted first time. Prior to this my parents paid a solicitor to do theirs, there were 2 errors which I ended up quering with the Office of the Public Guardian myself after my Dad’s came through but not my Mum’s. I then notified the solicitor for her to correct the errors.
Just follow the instructions and its fine

I’m pleased that most of you have found it easy! We did not. It was the signing/dating that got us. Just a simple, teeny mistake gets it sent back. However, we did not have to pay again to re-do them. DH’s are now done; mine are not. I’ve got to the stage where I think I’ll get all the signatures, and then date them correctly 🤣🤣

sorry, really had to fight

Thanks to all of you for a very informative thread. It's something I must do.

mrsnonsmoker

so is this the same as "lasting" power of attorney or are they two different things?

One is for finance the other for Health, they are both vital to have but the old LPA is still valid, but does not cover Health so you need that one too if you have not got it. I did not have them when my husband had his massive stroke and really to have to fight to have him home and be the main carer as it was rather unusual back 20 years ago. He was totally paralysed so they did not think I could manage. I did win in the end with an excellent social worker.

I've done it too, all went through smoothly. But it does take a few weeks before they are approved.

And I urge anyone to get this sorted while they are still in good health physically and mentally.

Yes done both for my dad and myself

Bear in mind that it can take 10 weeks to get them approved after sugning and sending off. And you only have 42 days from printing out the documents (you have to pay immediately) to getting them in or you will have to start again. You are not allowed to staple the sheets together, only an old fashioned paperclip is acceptable.

If you have an attorney living far away, you can send them the document attached to an email, tell them the relevant page to print and sign, with witness, and then it must be sent to you via snail mail, but it cuts down the time a bit. Well worth doing whilst you are fit and healthy, sadly none of us know how quickly we could deteriorate! 🙂

Setting POA up for me with my DS & DDiL! Taken a while as had to get to someone who had known me for a while. DS finally sent paperwork of Registered post so hopefully in a few weeks find out if we did it right or what mistakes we made! If mistakes made means starting again & paying more money which is annoying & takes money away from other needs but POA must be done! We did it for money (ha ha) & health as you do not know what is going to happen so better to be safe than sorry! When we started we tried using a company that had advertised locally. We found they did very little for so much money. So decided to go it alone hoping we have followed instructions properly!

We also did one online. We signed up for each other plus the kids. Seems only fair as our finances are so entwined and we're not married. Makes me think we should also update our wills, or perhaps remember where they are!

so is this the same as "lasting" power of attorney or are they two different things?

I did, it is really easy and I am not at all tech savvy. If you get stuck there’s is a help line you can phone answered by really helpful people.

My daughter got the name of a lady who does them for £125.00 each. She works in a lawyers office but does them separately. As she does them in her work place for the clients but it’s part of her job ,she knows exactly how to fill them in. My husband has been really ill and I feel he is at the start of dementia so I used her as I didn’t want to make an error that meant I had to do them again in case he had deteriorated. They are done now so feel we both gained in our own way.

We did POA for health and finances through a solicitor at the same time as my mum changed her will. Yes it was costly put worded as it should be.

Thank goodness we did, if not then the hospital would have had their way and sent my dad to a care home instead of back to his sheltered accommodation where he is now picking up slowly with carers and family .

Yes fairly straightforward. I used post it notes stuck to the pages to make sure it was signed in the correct order.

Just to add, you can if you don't have access to the internet or a printer, phone up and they will send you a paper pack to complete. It comes complete with notes and a list of frequently asked questions too.

Thank you all for the helpful advice. I was quoted over £1000, so 2x£84 sounds good to me.

We did it for my mum after dad died. Registed it and never needed it until a week before she died.
At the same time we set them up for DH and I with each other and both sons as attorneys.
The HMRC website is very very helpful and designed for people to do it themselves. You just have to read everything thoroughly and do it carefully.

I bought a printer about two years ago solely for the purpose of doing my Power Of Attorney’s and I haven’t done them yet 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I've just done mine online via the government website. Really easy to do and far cheaper than getting a solicitor to do it. Two of my son's are attorneys.

Just follow instructions to the letter and it's fine.

Lovetopaint037

I did it and the one thing that the information warned about was not to get the pages mixed up. Apparently even solicitors can do this. That is what gave me the most concern. I used buff and white envelopes to try to help as I was doing finance and health. So there was dh and two daughters all doing both. Had a friend of mine to witness. So needed to be coordinated somewhat and each part had several pages of similar information. I ended spreading stuff about. Had lots of letters saying this part was done and that. In the end I put everything in a big A4 envelope marked POA. We plan to use it all when there is only one of us.

The pages are all numbered clearly.

Lovetopaint037

I did it and the one thing that the information warned about was not to get the pages mixed up. Apparently even solicitors can do this. That is what gave me the most concern. I used buff and white envelopes to try to help as I was doing finance and health. So there was dh and two daughters all doing both. Had a friend of mine to witness. So needed to be coordinated somewhat and each part had several pages of similar information. I ended spreading stuff about. Had lots of letters saying this part was done and that. In the end I put everything in a big A4 envelope marked POA. We plan to use it all when there is only one of us.

But if anything happens to either of you while you are still alive you may need to use it now.

My husband is still in hospital after suffering a serious stroke 9 weeks ago. A lot of accounts etc are just in his name so I cannot access them or even discuss eg insurances, phone contracts etc. As soon as the LPA comes through I can do so. The stroke affected his right side which is his dominant side and he cannot sign anything yet with his left. He is also unable to use the phone to discuss things as his speech is poor.

I did it and the one thing that the information warned about was not to get the pages mixed up. Apparently even solicitors can do this. That is what gave me the most concern. I used buff and white envelopes to try to help as I was doing finance and health. So there was dh and two daughters all doing both. Had a friend of mine to witness. So needed to be coordinated somewhat and each part had several pages of similar information. I ended spreading stuff about. Had lots of letters saying this part was done and that. In the end I put everything in a big A4 envelope marked POA. We plan to use it all when there is only one of us.

Yes, we did. But you absolutely must read the instructions very carefully, particularly as regards signing/dating*, otherwise it will be rejected and you will have to start (and pay!) again.

*We very nearly went wrong there!

As well to remember that you can add a paragraph to the Health and Welfare one, to state your own wishes. Dh and I added one, to state in what circumstances we do NOT want any ‘striving to keep alive’.

Beechnut

Thanks again OldFrill.

Sorry about your name spelling in my previous post.

No problem 😃