Power of attorney for in case of foreign detention

[HowDoWeDoThisPlease]

NC for this.

Im hoping someone can give me some guidance on what it is we need to get for this particular situation.

My DP is a dual national of GB and a Middle Eastern country. He needs to visit there for family matters, though travel to there is advised against at this time, due to the potential risk of being detained indefinitely for no reason/as a potential bargaining chip. (It’s pointless suggesting I dissuade him, we have talked long and often about this, and he’s determined he’s going).

Clearly were he to be detained for any length of time I would need to be able to access all his financial accounts to be able to continue to pay bills etc, and possibly to sell our property if the situation were to drag on over years (couldn’t run it on my own, he earns far more than me). We are both on the deeds.

we’ve spoken on the phone to a couple of solicitors offices, but both seem to be talking about lasting power of attorney, and want to change £500+ to tell us how to fill in the forms online, but my neighbour (retired lawyer) insists this is not the right thing for this situation. I’m really loathe to spend £500-600 for a zoom meeting to not get anywhere (and then not have enough time to organise the correct one), or end up with the wrong thing. Clearly my DP won’t be in any way mentally incapacitated were the worst to happen, just locked away where no one could contact him.

Many thanks to anyone who might be able to give any suggestions.

LPA sounds like it would be suitable for this purpose and you don’t need to pay a solicitor to do it. Just follow the instructions clearly. LPAs can be invoked at any time, the donor doesn’t need to have lost capacity.

Thank you for the quick reply. That makes me feel much less worried. I guess my (very lovely) neighbour isn’t so up to date with their knowledge on this. They have been so insistent it isn’t what we need that we’ve been really stressing about it. Thank you.

I think you want an "Ordinary power of attorney" (not a "Lasting power of attorney"). See this link from Careline - although I can't tell you specifically if they are correct about the form of words, and I'd double-check whether the signature needs to be witnessed.

Lasting Power of Attorney for finances would give you legal authorisation to manage his financial and property affairs if he gives permission for you to make use of it for any reason or if he becomes incapacitated. There's a section within it where it could be specified that in the case of his detainment that you can use it.

there is another lasting power of attorney for health and care decisions which would be no use in the situation you describe but is generally useful to have just in case.

depending on how long ago the retired solicitor retired, they may be thinking of the old style Enduring Power of Attorneys which are now obsolete unless it's already active. They are right that and EPA would be no use as it requires the person to have lost mental capacity.

another thing to consider is getting him to add you as a second signatory to any of his accounts and having you as a named person who can act on his behalf if needed. Time consuming to sort out as they would all have to be done individually but probably cheaper than a finance LPOA.

Can’t he just give you joint access to all his accounts? Then you can deal with everything if he is detained.

Could you get insurance?

I don’t think joint access to everything would automatically mean I could do whatever was needed financially without him signing or agreeing at some point. I must add, this is something he is very much keen we arrange before he goes, as he realises we would be stuffed if anything happens with our current arrangements.

Im not sure if we would have to time to do every account individually, plus there is the niggle that they might turn round and still say they need him to agree to something when he wouldn’t be contactable, hence wanting a legal document to endorse this.

Thanks for that link @CountessOfSponheim , I tried to find something that discussed different ones, but couldn’t find anything that was particularly straight forward.

Rather than get muddled with different types of authority, I’d go for a standard LPA for Property & Financial Affairs. It’s a document that is relatively easily obtained and recognised by financial institutions. And ease is the most important thing when trying to manage finances on someone else’s behalf. You don’t want the bank to turn around and say actually we don’t accept X, Y or Z.
Worth noting that the Office of the Public Guardian is currently taking longer than usual to process applications so get onto it sooner rather than later. Check through it a couple of times to make sure you haven’t made silly mistakes as this will only delay matters if they have to send forms back to you to be re-done.

Agree re the LPA for property and affairs and once it's done you can register it so it's easier for banks etc to get hold of it/see the details

Thank you both.

With apologies to OP for diverting @hatgirl - you say the old enduring power of attorney is now obsolete

Question: that's the sort my mother arranged (after DDad died, for me and siblings) just before the rules changed. Do you mean obsolete in the sense that you can't make them like that any more (and that if any were drawn up after the rule change, they were never valid)? Or obsolete in the sense that they are not valid now at all, even when properly drawn up before the date of the change?

DMum is now well into her 90s, and still has capacity, but of course the possibility of that changing is very real, and so if we need to update we need to get her to get on with it.

Provided it was made correctly and signed before 1 October 2007 then it's still valid. See https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/private-client/enduring-powers-of-attorney#:~:text=A%20PoA%20set%20up%20before,it%20may%20still%20be%20used.

Thank you @CountessOfSponheim

I'm as sure as a lay person can be that it's all correct, as it was done by a family solicitor, and it was before that date.

OP you could just use a general power of attorney (GPA) as your neighbour says. That is sufficient provided that the donor doesn't lose capacity. However due to banks being thick as mince having fixed processes it's probably sensible to go for the LPA with power to use immediately which you can register and give banks etc the online registration details. You can do this online without a solicitor and the cost is £82 to register. I really hope all goes well and you don't need to use it.