Cost of POA

Yep, I wouldn't mess about with that actually but act promptly. I do dimly recall someone having one of those old ones and in some respects it's now invalid. Can't swear on it, but they thought they were good - turned out they were wrong.
Can't do any harm to get a new one, okay it's £80, that's not silly money.

DH and his sis did one for MIL over a weekend recently all online and was 80.

*MIL has had an 'Enduring POA' set up in the 1990s. Not sure how this differs to LPOA.” As someone said, it covers financial only, not health and welfare. Big difference is that it can be used only once capacity has been lost, and you don’t register it until capacity has been lost. So there are advantages to replacing it by LPA - I’m about to do that for mine.

Kate Garraway is a great example. Claudia Lawrence's parents would probably not have been able to act for her, even with an LPOA. A finance/property LPOA usually only becomes valid once the person concerned has lost capacity. You can opt to allow it to become valid even before that, but few people do, because not many people fancy giving someone else the right to manage their financial affairs. We don't have a proper process to administer the affairs of people who are missing, unfortunately.

This, and also stuff like Kate Garraway whose husband was in a coma after getting long Covid. Neither exactly old but she couldn't act on his behalf with his finances or anything because - not being hold - they hadn't done the whole LPA thing, they struggled. Or rather she did, he was in a coma.

Bottom line is that an enduring power of attorney is still valid, but they only covered financial/property issues. She could keep this, but add a LPOA for health and welfare as well, if she wanted.

We were quoted 20 weeks on the Gov website, but it actually took 12 weeks.

Just like a will, everyone should have a LPOA in place. Hopefully you won't ever need to use it but for £82 it is a good 'just incase policy'. The case of Claudia Lawrence who went missing many years ago highlighted this when her father said they were unable to do anything without a LPOA - pay the mortgage, insure her car etc.

My husband and I are only 51, but we have them in place. MIL has had an 'Enduring POA' set up in the 1990s. Not sure how this differs to LPOA.

We were at the solicitors the other day to discuss new wills. She asked if we had POAs and we said we were sorting those ourselves. She said that was fine but just be very careful to get everything signed/witnessed at the right time and in the right order.

My dad went through a solicitor to set his up and it took about 8 months to come through, so I'm impressed with the 12 weeks mentioned above.

Definitely the right decision for him to go via a solicitor as it meant it was all done in the right order etc. No idea what it cost but another relative was quoted about £550 for the 2 types.

That's brilliant @Oldowl . I'm on hold to the OPG now as DF is having new LPAs drawn up and his old ones revoked at the same time. The messages on hold are quoting 20 weeks...

I got the POA forms back today (for attorneys to object) saying that the Lasting POA will be registered officially on 3rd March with the office of the public guardian. So 12 weeks from sending off to being registered.

Definitely don't use the Which LPA checking service. They altered the section where my DM put down her medical wishes (optional part of an LPA),and told her that her understanding of her own medical issues was wrong (it wasn't - I"m a doctor), then argued with me too. I was genuinely shocked - their alterations could have led to her getting types of care she expressly did not want, and they were so arrogant and rude when she queried it.

Not necessarily. You have to fit in with the solicitor’s other work. There’s also delays while you collect signatures, and the longest delay of all when you try to register it - 20 weeks I’ve seen quoted, and the solicitor can’t speed that up.

what the solicitor gives is

1. an assurance that you’ve filled in the form to the donor’s wishes
2. a greater chance that it won’t be rejected by the OPG
3. a nudge if you’re inclined to procrastinate

Absolutely not. They don't have some magical way if applying more quickly than you

Not necessarily…it will be sent to register with the office of the public guardian….and whether it’s sent by you or by the solicitor it will be in a queue to be registered ….no priority for solicitors….of course less chance of it being done wrong and returned to you for amanedments with a solicitor

No quicker no! Just fill it in on the gov.uk website and print and sign! Really simple to do. A solicitor would be a waste of money!

I did POA myself
Family friend signed that they knew the person
No solicitor involved
Everyone involved has a copy

www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

Neighbours are no help sadly as she's only ever said hello. Whilst they could witness, I don't think they could be the 'certificate provider'. Covid made her somewhat reclusive.

Those figures are all per PoA so multiply by 4 if you’re doing both for two parents.

Solicitor about £400, plus the registration fee.

Which? Magazine have a checking service which hopefully avoids it being rejected by OPG. Now OPG is taking months rather than weeks to register, it might be worth it. £99 on top of the registration fee.

We took out the health & finance one for both sets of parents. The health ones were invaluable when DF developed stage 4 Cancer and DMIL developed Vascular Dementia. It meant that the HCPs would talk to us and we could advocate on their behalf, like making sure my DF was where he wanted to be for his death.

Yes £82 each. Remember it's the doner (the one giving poa) who pays though, so if they are on a low income, e.g. on Pension Credit, they can be exempt from paying.