Amending wills to give control in life - or something else?

[PiperPublickOccurrences]

Bit confused. DH and I both have mirror wills, drawn up about a decade ago by a solicitor. We are happy with the wills and don't want to change what they say.

One of DH's colleagues fell very seriously ill over the summer while on holiday overseas and is still in hospital in Italy. His wife has had a total nightmare with getting access to funds, accounts and policies held in his name as he is still alive - albeit in a coma and unable to sign forms, speak to people on the form and give his consent. Most of our money is in joint names but we really think we need to add something to our wills to give each other the right/permission to access the other's funds or deal with accounts in this sort of situation.

Is adding something to the will the way to go, or do we need some other sort of legal device? We're in Scotland if that's relevant. And would we need to see a specialist solicitor?

You need a power of attorney rather than a changing your will. It is really sensible to do.

Incidentally assets being in joint names doesn’t help as much as you would think if the bank get wind of one of you having lost capacity. Not in England anyway, I don’t advise on Scotland stuff.

It’s an insurance policy really. Sign the powers, put them away and hope never o need them.

Agree with PP, you both need a finance and health lasting power of attorney for each other.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/make-a-lasting-power-of-attorney

Your will only applies once you have died so nothing you add can help in that situation. As pp have said you need a lasting power of attorney. You can do it yourselves online. Banks can and will freeze assets if one of you looses capacity regardless that it is joint names.

Lasting Power of Attorney sounds the way to go. The forms look straightforward but I'm wary as we're in Scotland and I wouldn't want to fill it all in, think it's done and then when push comes to shove it's invalid. Is this the sort of work any lawyer will be able to help with or do I need to look for a specialist?

Ideally you want someone who does wills and probate work. If you can remember who did your wills, he/she can help.

here's the link for the Scottish version www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/

I have just done both powers of attorney. Well worth it.

It's just one of those things you don't think about when you're fit and healthy. DH's colleague's wife has faced issues with things like getting access to his salary - she's a SAHM and the money way going into an account in his name before he would transfer it into a joint account. Although the employer is being hugely understanding they just can't change the account an employee's salary is paid into without the permission of the employee... who is lying in a coma in Italy.

I am assuming once in place there's no expiry date on it?

I am assuming once in place there's no expiry date on it?

No, it’ll last for the donor’s lifetime

I'm trying to get my parents to sort power of attorney as both of them have had major issues with parents with dementia. My grandad has written my dad out of his will, convinced he never came to visit. It's his other son that never came to visit as he moved to Spain. Apparently they can contest it as it would have been done while he was not of sound mind, but it's caused a major rift...

In Scotland you need to do Continuing Powers of Attorney
People think they don't need to do them as they are fit and healthy, but that can of course change very quickly
Get them done,put them away ,forget all about them ,but they are there if needed

Assuming England or Wales you need Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), one for Health and Welfare, one for Financials. You can do them online, but it is complicated.

We had a similar problem with my FIL, dementia, not coma, which made us aware of the issues. Without LPAs, you have to go through the Court of Protection, which gets expensive, takes time and requires lots of ongoing admin.

We took the easy option and used Mumblechum (Marlow Wills), she’s the Mumsnet go to for this, she pointed out things we’d not have thought of and sorted all of the registration out. She’s also cheaper than any online quote I saw.