POA for forgetful father - help please!

[Philothea]

My Dad (82) is getting a bit forgetful and I am starting to think time may be running out for arranging POA. I should have done it before really, but I find it all a bit intimidating (and am a bit scared of legal stuff).

He had a hospital appointment today and was totally confused about where he was meant to go and why, despite texting me details about it only two days ago. Should I ask his GP to do a capacity assessment before getting the ball rolling?

The second thing is who can witness - he has an extremely narrow social network and no close family. I am an only child. No one springs to mind who we could ask to witness.

Thanks in advance.

I'd arrange it now. Capacity isn't judged by a single thing, and memory isn't the important bit. Capacity with regard to an LPA is about him understanding what he's doing. If you can have a sensible conversation about it giving you permission to help to pay his bills etc, and filling forms in for him, he completely understands what you're suggesting, and that signing the forms gives you permission, then you're fine.

It's a while since I gave my DDs LPA, so I can't remember what the requirements are re the witnesses. If it's just a case of watching you sign, will a neighbour do?

Just checked. It looks like a neighbour is fine.

Don't be scared of the legal stuff. It's a very straightforward form. I've done three now and it's been a reasonably simple process each time. The instructions are detailed.

The forms will be sent back to you if there are any issues, and the people on the phone were lovely when we needed to query something.

Just be very careful about initialling and dating corrections if any errors are made.

Thanks @saraclara and @Sherunswithwolves, I feel a bit better about it now! I will look further into it over the weekend.

Good luck with it, and I hope your dad is ok.

I hope all goes well. And don't pay a solicitor a fortune to do it for you. The DIY forms are pretty straightforward. The only bit you have to be careful with is the signing. The different parties have to sign in a particular order. But it's all very manageable

Thank you.
Should I get it all printed out or do it online? There’s a lot to read through first…

Do what you can online but youll still need to print for all the signatories. I did a spare copy in case of fuck ups. I put different coloured post it's by donor, certificate provider, attorney and witness to make sure everyone signed where they needed.