Certificate Provider?

[GunBoatDiplomat]

Hi, hoping someone can help with this!

My mum is in a hospice and is wanting to give me LPA to deal with her financials. I'm not convinced she will survive long enough for it to be processed, to be honest, but I've said we'll try to get it organised.

The problem we have is with the certificate provider. My mum doesn't really have any friends or neighbours we could approach to ask, and she's not remained in touch with any ex colleagues. She's not very keen on the thought of paying a professional to do it, as shes on a low income. So we've been wracking our brians trying to think of who else would be appropriate.

We were thinking about my best friend, who has also known my mum for 20 years, but I'm not sure if that would be a close enough relationship to her and/or whether its appropriate due to their relationship with me. Alternatively, I was wondering if my sister's mother-in-law would be classed as a family member (no blood relation to my mother obviously, and they are friends) or if she could do it? My sister isn't going to be an attorney or replacement attorney.

Can anyone advise on either of the above? Or know how much it's likely to cost if we have to get a professional to do it?

Thanks!

I work for a solicitor and we charge £400 + VAT (and registration fee) to do an LPA. I don't know what we'd charge to do just the certificate.

My MIL's was done by a neighbour who had known her for years. So I should think your friend or sister's MIL would be okay.

I'm sorry you're going through this.

Thanks @StCharlotte. Oof - that seems like a lot! It doesn't seem overly complicated apart from finding all the people to witness it, although I suppose ours is simple since its just me getting the POA.

The hospice manager seemed sceptical that she didn't have any friends or neighbours that could do it, but her 'friends' disappeared when she got the cancer diagnosis and she lived in an area where frankly the less you knew about your neighbours, the better!

And thank you - it's really grim. I'm trying to focus on practicalities, but am alternating between feeling incredibly sad and wanting to throw a tantrum about how unfair it is

GunBoatDiplomat Yes I think It's a lot too! But to his credit my boss does always tell people they can do it themselves (in a nice way).

Your best friend would be fine. They have to be over 18 and not an attorney in the LPA, or related to one.

There is a backlog, though. We sent our forms in at the end of March. We have just been advised they will send them out by the end of June.

That's good of him, StCharlotte!

Lougle Thank you - we think we've actually found someone, an old family friend who I'd totally forgotten about. We just need her to be lucid enough to sign the forms now, she's a little erratic at the minute. That's bad news about a backlog, I think even the 8-10 weeks was going to be optimistic