Lasting Power of Attorney

[CaveMum]

After MIL (76) took a horrible fall last year (fell down a flight of concrete steps breaking her collar bone, shoulder blade, 3 ribs and 2 vertebrae) we've finally convinced her that she'd be better off moving out of her house (3 bed town house where she lives alone) and into a flat.

Tied into all this DH and his brother have also had the uncomfortable chat with her about making sure she has a Will, writing down any specific funeral wishes, etc.

We also think it's a good idea to get a LPA set up as although she is totally with it right now, there is a history of dementia in her family. Plus when she had her accident and was hospitalised for 6 weeks we had all kinds of bother trying to make sure her bills were being paid, etc.

I've phoned a few solicitors and costs seem to vary from £450 - £1200 +VAT and registration fees. We're looking at the dual LPA (health and financial) so accept that this will cost more.

I am aware that you can do it all yourself but I'd be worried about not getting it right IYSWIM.

What are other people's experiences with this? Do the costs sound about right and if you did it yourself how easy was it to do?

I am not at all bright or computer literate, but I have to say that completing PoA on line is very easy. Even if you make a mistake, they write to you with advice. If she is on low income it is cheaper. I certainly would. It use a solicitor.

I advise to get both types. I have had 5 years of caring for elderly relatives
PoA has been a life saver.

I have dual PoA for both my parents. My dad was initially very wary of it (bless the Dr at the memory clinic for saying it was vital), and so did it through their solicitors. I think it cost £1300 inc the registration fees and lots of notarised copies.

It was well worth it for me as they chased the GP, wrote to my brother (we don't get on) etc and I knew it was all watertight - which in different circs I might not have been so worried about, but my mums capacity was marginal at best imo

Either do it yourself on line and just pay the registration fee or get someone like Mumblechum to do it for you if you really want someone else to organize it.

Solicitor is honestly ripping you off charging that much for something you can download the forms yourself for. There is also no requirement for a GP to get involved so no idea why they asked for that - and if your relative's capacity is in doubt that is highly specialist work that should not be done by a GP anyway so solicitor has cocked up bigtime.

I work in a solicitors and we charge £650 + VAT for an LPA, 'health and welfare' AND 'property and finance'. Other fees payable to The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) are usually £220.00. That's £110 each for h&w and p&w. You don't have to have both in place, you can have either one or both.

Sorry £450 not £650.

My parents have decided the time has come to do PoAs and like you were shocked at the cost. I've helped them do both applications on line, it's been much easier than we expected. This is the link I used: www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

Thanks all, the advice is most helpful.

if you did it yourself how easy was it to do?

The two I know of which were DIY and have been triggered have been legally OK but in one case they hadn't realised, as they hadn't had advice, just how foolish joint (as opposed to joint and several) PoAs are. So they are now locked into a position where three attorneys have to sign everything, and as capability has been lost, there's not a hell of a lot they can do about which doesn't involve a very expensive trip to the court of protection.

If you don't trust someone, don't make them your attorney. Trying to deal with this by joint attorneyships is crazy stuff. My mother wanted my brother and I to be joint attorneys, and we as a united front said that we wouldn't, and if she wanted to have two people having to act jointly, she should find people willing to do it, as we weren't. Either she trusted us jointly and severally, or not at all.

Do it yourself unless there are problems between siblings. Then it might be useful to have someone neutral and experienced spell out obligations and commitments. We did ours in a hurry and in response to an emergency, but my mother's affairs are complicated (this week I could well spend 60 hours admin as well as time in the car, and this is before I actually see her) and it would have been better to have gone through things before papers were drawn up and signed.

But otherwise OPG are helpful and it is not very hard. Do both at once.

As I've said up-thread I'm in middle of doing POAs for my parents. Mum and Dad have asked my sister and I to be the guardians jointly and severely. The online form was straight forward and the OPG have been very helpful. So far so good. I'd recommend giving it a go and doing it yourself.

Hello! You may have already got this sorted but I agree with some of the above comments in that, unless you've got really tricky financial affairs (such as property abroad etc) there's no point using a solicitor as they charge by the hour and the process of setting the lpa up can be lengthy. Instead, we used an online company to do it for us (like you, I was worried about getting the various bits wrong, like the instructions part). We used www.LPAadvice.co.uk if that helps and would def recommend again. Hope you're sorted now anyway X

I did it myself, it is very easy to do online.

I also did my own probate when my father died, the forms look quite scary but they're really not.