Has anyone arranged lasting power of attorney themselves without a solicitor?

[Wildywondrous]

As the title suggests I need to set up lasting power of attorney for my Mum, I know a few people who have done it but they've used solicitors and it's cost over £1000 which I don't have, I've looked online and it sounds pretty simple and I will only have to pay the registration fees which are £164.

I think she's in the early stages of dementia so we need to get it sorted out as quickly as possible, her best friend is happy to be the certificate provider and chat gpt makes it sound very simple and says the only tricky bit is ensuring it's signed in the correct order.

Has anyone set it up themselves and is it a straight forward as it sounds? I will need to do both health and finances.

If you think they could work together in your best interests then ask all of them. If not then choose the most responsible.
Alternatively, do what my gran did, bypass your children and choose the most responsible grandchild (me).
If someone has power of attorney then this carries more legal weight than whoever is the next of kin. If someone only has poa for finances then next of kin may be contacted about health and welfare matters. If someone has poa for both then the next of kin is only relevant when it comes to inheritance not for any decision making when you're still alive.

Dead easy to do and in reality, nobody would ever be able to prove that they were or weren’t signed in the correct order.
My neighbour signed ours blank and I filled everything in later.

And that can be a compete pain for e.g. just using the bank account for basic shopping or changing a direct debit, or changing energy suppliers etc.

you can make it joint and several for nearly everything but reserve joint for eg. selling the house. Though even then that can make it difficult selling the house if needed if one person is overseas.

Agree a solicitor isn’t needed, and filling it out online is also easy, but you do need to be able to print it out, and be v careful to sign and date everything in the right order. We did a lot of posting the form around for signatures but if you can have everyone there to sign on one day it does make it easier.

and you don’t need a professional to sign that the person giving the POA knows what they are doing. We’ve always used long standing friends of the person concerned.

Yep. I managed. You just need to be organised. Read carefully and follow all the notes and procedures. I say down at my desk for a good couple of hours here and there and did have to concentrate. Then we needed to do to a Doctor with my Dad, to get a witness that he understood and consented to what we were doing. Was sad but very worth it.

Yes, it's not complicated. You'll be fine.

Age UK will help you and it should only cost you the registration fee which is less than £100. AFAIK.

I did both with my mum, no solicitor needed. Just make sure the signatures are done in the correct order- the instructions are clear.

I do think they could work together - well, in that DD2 research and consider best options and the others would go for the easiest scenario, which would be to agree with her forensic research. But DD1 thinks she should be the favourite and the most important because I’ve known her longest (that quote was from when she was 13), DS would feel he was discriminated against because he lives abroad and his wife doesn’t speak English…

I’m long divorced but their dad is now a dear friend, but head in sand around money. My siblings are older and statistically likely to die before me. It’s impossible to keep everyone happy.

Yes, did it online, dead easy.

Thank you, that sounds a better way forward.

My eldest DGC is 9 so it has to be one or more of my AC.

Just did my mums with Which? Super simple

Very easy to do it yourself on the GOV website.

Uk? You set it up on the .gov.uk website, costs about £90 for finance and the same again for health. You will need to get someone to agree she understands what she’s signed

We have done my mothers, completing both health & finance LPAs online

You can draft them online in advance and change details as required, then commit to them for printing and signing.

We had one problem so the financial one was completed and the health one was rejected.
This was because the witnesses address was left blank on one of the pages.
It was rejected (with the option to appeal, or to resubmit at half the fee within a time limit)
We opted for resubmission and multiple checks of the forms by every one of us.

By doing it online and printing you can see the status, but don’t worry if your postage tracking says it’s been delivered but the website status is still waiting or when it is marked as received with no other progress.
They will send out letters, eg to the individual to make sure they know LPA is being requested (this arrived before the online status progressed)
Each of you will ultimately get letters confirming your LPA authority and instructions on how to register your status

As your family is dispersed you then have the options of making a gathering, posting it all over (checking the order it needs to be done) or to pick individuals who can do the signing

Read the instructions carefully, and don’t staple anything (that does mean that you can print a few copies of certain pages to allow for mistakes as it circulates)

At the end re-read it all, check it all and make sure you have the full set in the right order

your youngest DD2 sounds like the right one to be in charge of organising the paperwork - it’s simple when following each instruction in order, but as per our first attempt is easy to make a mistake

Yes. I've done it twice for myself online.. Very straightforward

No need to fork out ££££ for a solicitor. It’s simple enough to do online, only you do need to read the instructions very carefully, particularly IIRC as regards to signing and dating. Any mistake means that it will be rejected, and you’ll have to start (and pay) again.

And as a pp said, you do need a printer!

Do both types. Do joint and several for EVERYTHING (if one is out of action the others can still act). Appoint as many as you can within reason (see previous brackets). It's the donor's income that determines whether it's full fees or not. Add 'I consent to my attorneys being given all relevant information about me' to instructions on both types (there is a preferred wording for this online). Keep it simple and don't try any clever instructions or preferences. You might try 'prefer to continue giving gifts' for example, but this still might not work in practice. ETA: if you can sign everything on the same date, do.

I did them for my Dad a few years ago and it was fine.

Did ours through Which Wills. Very straightforward and they checked all details before submitting https://whichwills.which.co.uk/wills/