Power of attorney woes

I didn’t realise you had to start again is there not some facility to change the nominated person for a small fee I would think this is quite a common occurance

If you really have no younger family member or friend then you can always appoint the solicitor, who will cost of course.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-guardian-practice-note-notification-of-death/public-guardian-practice-note-notification-of-death#:~:text=A%20death%20can%20be%20reported,LPA%20or%20EPA%20to%20OPG.

There's no mention of the death of the "person to be informed" in this advice.

You can contact the Office of the Public Guardian for clarification:

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[email protected]

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0300 456 0300
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Not sure you can use a family member as they would stand to gain financially.

You don't have to have a "person to notify" - we didn't. It's just an additional safeguard

Pleasebenice

Not sure you can use a family member as they would stand to gain financially.

POA is not about the beneficiaries, it’s someone to advocate for you.

Yes but the financial poa allows people to take over your finances.

Pleasebenice

Not sure you can use a family member as they would stand to gain financially.

You certainly can for P of A. Our DDs have both Ps of A for us. Attorneys re not supposed to benefit financially.

Maybe you are thinking of wills, where beneficiaries are not allowed to be witnesses.

Yes, it is very usual for children to have POA. I have it for my mother, and our children have it for us.

Both my children have H & F Powers of Attorney for me. They know can use the money only for my benefit while I am alive. When I die they are my beneficiaries.

As I understand it, when you are dealing with the finances of someone for whom you have power of attorney, any money that is spent on the persons behalf has to be accounted for to office of the public guardian. This is what happened when my sister in law was looking after the financial affairs of her sister. DH who was her other attorney until he died, but was not directly responsible for expenditure, had to be kept in the loop. SiL had to submit a record of outgoings. Attorneys cannot just “take over your finances”.

It’s not the attorneys that is the question. It is the person to notify. Can that be a relative or can you just not have one?

Both our daughters are named on our POAs, all done by our Solicitor.

SiL had to submit a record of outgoings. Let me correct that statement. What I meant to say is that a detailed record of expenditure has to be kept and the OPG can ask to see it at any time.

Pleasebenice

It’s not the attorneys that is the question. It is the person to notify. Can that be a relative or can you just not have one?

As I said above, the "person to notify" part of the poa is completely optional. If someone has been named they must be notified when the poa is registered, but you do not have to name anyone. I think you said your POAs have already been registered in which case I don't think it should matter that the person you named has since died

Having a person to notify is an additional safeguard not a requirement. That person is notified that a PoA has been created and has 3 weeks to object to its registration eg if they think undue influence has been used to get the donor to create a PoA. As your PoA has already been registered the death of the person to. Notify has no impact on your PoA which remains valid

Greyduster

As I understand it, when you are dealing with the finances of someone for whom you have power of attorney, any money that is spent on the persons behalf has to be accounted for to office of the public guardian. This is what happened when my sister in law was looking after the financial affairs of her sister. DH who was her other attorney until he died, but was not directly responsible for expenditure, had to be kept in the loop. SiL had to submit a record of outgoings. Attorneys cannot just “take over your finances”.

Several in this family inc. dh, have held Ps of A, both financial and for health and welfare, for other family members, usually because of dementia.
I am certainly not aware than any of them has been obliged to submit records to the office of the Public Guardian, though I know they could have accounted for all expenditure if required to do so.

Of course abuses do occur - I have read of cases where other family members strongly suspect that the financial P of A holder is helping themselves, but AFAIK they have to involve the Public Guardian office if they want to pursue the matter.

Just to add, in this family the holders of financial P of A have certainly just ‘taken over’ the person’s finances, since they were no longer at all capable of managing their own affairs.

In my mother’s case (she had dementia) a cheque for £4000 after sale of some shares had gone missing - and we never found out how, or who had taken or managed to cash it - but that was when my brother, who had P of A, said, ‘Right, that’s it!’ - and activated the (old style) Power of Attorney PDQ.

Pleasebenice

I have both POAs completed and registered but the person I nominated as someone to be informed has died. I understand I need to start again. Not cheap. But most, if not all, of my friends are my age, 70s, so I guess this could happen again. Any suggestions?

If your POA appointed only one person as your Attorney, and they have died, then yes you will need to formally appoint another and inform the Office of the Public Guardian who holds your POA.

But, if you had nominated several attorneys ( as backstops) then their appointment is still safely in place. No rush.

Or do you mean, that on your POA you listed a number of people the Attorney needs to inform that he is now the person in charge of your health welfare and finance.

POA backups;

Our POAs ( health and welfare) nominate first, each other.
Should that spouse themselves be too incapacitated by then, both our sons are also appointed as Attorneys. We had expected only to appoint one back-up, the son who conveniently lives very near by. It was our solicitor who recommended appointing two sons. She pointed out that peoples circumstances can change in a twinkling . Years down the line either son might be unavailable , uncontactable etc ( they both travel remotely, do extreme sports, and have jobs where they are not instantly available).

OP's query is nothing to do with her attorneys. I do wish people would read properly before jumping in with unnecessary and confusing advice!

Ring customer services at Office for Public Gaurdian. They are very helpful.

I think this is why it’s suggested to have a back up named in the LPOA, I didn’t with my mothers, however DH’s mum is still alive and in the event of DH death it passes directly to his sister. (Lots of reasons why they were not named as joint attorneys)

Ooops, I’ve just re-read OP, sorry!! My advice is to call up as others have said, or to be honest just leave it as it is.

eddiecat78

OP's query is nothing to do with her attorneys. I do wish people would read properly before jumping in with unnecessary and confusing advice!

Soz