Power of Attorney - any hints and tips?

Mid stages of dementia, I mean!

Act as swiftly as possible, as trying to convince my dad in the early/mid stages was a job and a half. Go for both finance and health if you can, finance being the priority (mum dad starting drawing out money every day and hid it in the house, I was worried sick as he had loads of workmen coming and going, and was also extremely vulnerable at cash points). I managed to stop his access to his bank account and ensure he had a regular but manageable amount of cash, and was also able to pay his bills, rent etc via his bank account). I didn't need to use the health, but felt reassured that I could act in my dad's best interests without worry (my dad passed away quite quickly after I got POA).

Good luck OP. Hope you get it sorted.

Just to be clear re a couple of comments, The OP can’t decide anything other than if they will agree to be an attorney. It is entirely the OPs mother’s decision who she would like for what and when anything e.g. the P&F usage should kick in.

You don’t need to pay anyone to complete these documents. We downloaded the application forms onto my laptop then sat down with MIL to complete them together. They’re actually very simple, but look complicated because there’s lots of duplication. Once you submit them online, they send you the documents to sign and have witnessed. We had my MILs best friend as witness. It doesn’t have to be anyone professional.

Look at the government website, www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney. I did poa's for both parents using this website and did not involve a solicitor. Family friends witnessed signatures and signed to confirm they weren't being forced into signing. When everything had been registered, I copied all the pages and we parents signed the copies to certify that they were true copies. You can get stamps from Amazon to save writing out the required wording on each individual page. Hope this helps.

Hi, I do this for a living so happy to help.

As above joint and severally with local brother is good idea. Unless overseas brother is likely to return there isn’t any point in your mum including him although if she would like him included it’s fine.

It’s really about your mum documenting what matters to her re care, medical treatment, finances etc with you and any other attorney understanding that you have to act in your mums best interests, however inconvenient, at all times.

Preferences are more workable than instructions unless it’s something that is non negotiable for your mum but these sections can be left blank.

Any other questions let me know and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Contact Mumblechum on here aka Marlowe wills
She did my parents, she’s lovely and reasonably priced too

Don't need a solicitor

Decide whether you want the finance one to be active now or only come into play if your DM loses capacity. Doesn't mean your DM doesn't have access to her finances but is useful if she needs help with anything or has to go into hospital for awhile etc

Make sure all the signatures are done in the right order, that is the trickiest bit!

Absolutely essential -it’s hell, especially for finances, if LPAs aren’t in place.
(My in-laws had the old EPA, which covers only finance, which was/is fine.)
Care homes of both (mil has died) took on board our views re health and welfare, but didn’t/don’t have to -having said that, probably only took notice because we were on the same page as them!
My parents have both LPAs.
If I had to choose to do only one (they’re quite pricey) I’d do the finance one.
Without the finance one life is very difficult; it’s hugely expensive and time consuming sorting this out with the Court of Protection after your parent can no longer manage their affairs.
We had other issues as my husband was the only attorney for both so had to employ another attorney, ie a solicitor, as he couldn’t represent both of them (they’d both nominated him and each other) and we needed to sell their house. We spent a fortune and many months trying to appoint a solicitor via the Court of Protection (they take forever); my mil died and so after seven months and a few thousand pounds the whole thing had to be abandoned!
My husband is an only child, but I’m not and my parents chose me and my sister as we live nearby, whereas my brother doesn’t.
It’s worth talking to Age UK before approaching a solicitor.

Go for joint and several with local db…. Then either if you can act if neccesary.