Parents want to give me power of attorney

[balia]

My mum and dad are in their late 60's, mentally fine with a few health problems. They had a bad car accident last year that has shaken them up (and made them think about the future) and they have said they would like to give me power of attorney so I can deal with things if they die/become mentally infirm. (My gran had Alzheimers and my mum is afraid she will go the same way.)

I'm not really sure what this means or if they need to do this now - could anyone give me some info/advice/point me in the right direction?

I'm not a solicitor but I know a little about this. Under the mental capacity act there are now 2 types of power of attorney - one for health matters and one for property and finances.

The financial one is definitely worth doing and worth doing now. You can only make it at a stage when someone has mental capacity to do so and if you leave it until they can't then the Court of Protection may have to be used if financial decisions about the estate need to be taken. I believe (but please check!) that this can take months and it is very expensive. I may be wrong on this but I believe they take a percentage of the estate.

If you do it now, it is cheap and simple. I keep meaning to do mine and I'm only in my 30s and need to write a will first

I don't think you have to do anything until they no longer have capacity (which will hopefully never happen).

Hi balia,

I'm a will writer and also write LPAs (Lasting Powers of Attorney). As Awingandaprayer said, the financial one is probably of a higher priority. The procedure is fairly straightforward, your parents should really appoint one another in the first instance, and then you and/or your siblings as appropriate as default attorneys.

They also need to appoint a "Person to be Told" who would be notified when the LPA goes to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration; that's just a safeguard in case someone was trying to register an LPA inappropriately, eg when the donor had clearly lost capacity before the LPA was signed. If they don't want to notify a Person to be Told, they need a second person to act as a certificate signatory. The certificate should ideally be signed by a lawyer or GP but otherwise someone who's known the donor for at least two years and is unrelated.

I always recommend that once signed, the LPA is registered as soon as possible as the Office of the Public Guardian often rejects them for the same sort of reason the Passport office reject documents, eg digit being a tiny bit out of the box on the form. If it's registered after the donor has lost capacity it's a problem to get any errors sorted out.

The OPG charges £130 for each LPA, but some people are exempt on income grounds.

Solicitors' charges vary. In my day job I charge significantly more than I do as a freelancer.

I have a paid for advert over on the classified section (small businesses) headed "5* Will Writing Service recommended by Mumsnetters" if you're interested.

Thanks both - Mum and Dad checked it out with their solicitor and were a bit at the cost. They are both retired (although Mum still does some part-time work) how can I find out if they are exempt?

Have checked out your ad, mumblechum, many thanks. May I pm you with more questions/details or do you prefer to do it through the website details?

Hi Balia,

Probably best to email me through the website, as I don't check my PMs that frequently.

Fees exemption applies to anyone who receives Income Support, Income based JSA, Pension Guarantee Credit,Housing benefit or Council Tax Benefit (not the 25% single person deduction).

Fee remission applies on income between £11,501-£16,000 on a sliding scale.