Power of Attorney for expat parents- anyone done this?

[OneMoreForExtra]

Looking for help setting up PoA for my DPs. Its a bit convoluted and I'm not sure what exactly I need to do.

DF has dementia and is dependent on daily care. DM is healthy but finding taking the whole burden of thinking and doing for them both too much. We've all agreed that in principle we should set up PoA so that DSis and I can do more to run their finances, household and health arrangements for her.

The complication is, they live abroad in the EU and we're both in the UK. Due to their working histories they have pension and savings in the UK, the EU and a non-EU country too.

Does anyone know whether a PoA arranged in one country applies to all of their interests in any country, or do we need to arrange one for each of the 3 countries where they have interests?

I'm setting up lawyers meetings etc but covid/travel/quarantine is making it much harder so very grateful for any advice or experiences on here!

@OneMoreForExtra An English POA does not extend outside of the country. This usually applies to documents prepared in other countries too.

In England, you would not be able to set up a POA for someone with dementia who is dependent on daily care (inferring that your DF lacks mental capacity). You would have to apply for a Deputy Order through the Court of Protection to manage his finances.

thanks very much @MyGodImSoYoung. Yes, DF does lack mental capacity- our vague hope was that if DM delegates responsibility for their joint affairs to us that would get around having a separate process for him, but perhaps that won't work. We actually need to be doing this in France, where they live, probably as the first step - I guess this then wouldn't be recognised in England?

In England and Wales the applicant needs to understand the implication of what they are signing - if they have early stage dementia and still have a level of capacity to sign then they still can although its best covered with a GPs letter to say they have a sufficient level of capacity. Mum and Dad treated seperatelywhich could cause some issues if you can't get for Dad. It takes anything upward of 10 weeks to get in place and actually is easily done on line, print off then sign evrything and send it in with cheques (its not free) You will need one for health and one for finance for each person I think it was 163.50 or similar for the two for one person so you would need to double it. Discounts are available for certain benefit recipients (pension credit). Please make sure the wills are also in place and up to date etc as well especially executors.

this might be useful in France as the system appears to be reasonably different and as others have said France would be outside the jurisdiction of UK and vice versa

Thanks @rb68 - sounds like we could start to get the England ball rolling online while sorting out what has to happen in France then. They do have very basic wills according to a french legal template, signed just before DF went downhill.

@OneMoreForExtra Joint accounts might make things slightly easier if you have POA for your Mum, however, the financial institutions might not be overly receptive to putting you on a joint account.

A French POA (or equivalent) would not be recognised in England, unfortunately.

In terms of registering the LPA, the cost is £82 per document (reduced to £41 if their individual income is less than £12,000 per year) and potentially entirely exempt if they are in receipt of certain, specified benefits.

The Office of the Public Guardian advise that registration should take 8-10 weeks, but I am finding this to be slightly more at the moment.

In Scotland registration is taking 8 months