Power of attorney - seeking this up ourselves

[Arlanymor]

So my parents are hurtling towards 80 and have decided it would make sense to put a power of attorney in place, in the event that neither is able to make reasoned decisions. Does anyone have experience of doing this online and then getting it legally ratified? A bit like doing the lion’s share of your divorce work yourself and then getting the legal sign off in the final stages. I’m happy to do it, but just want make sure that it is legal at the end of the day. There are lots of websites that have templates etc, but I want to make sure everything is correct and above board.

I did it all online myself for my parents. It took a while to get my head round the language, but after that, it wasn’t too bad but it did take some time!

Don’t expect to do it in one sitting .

Just check everything has been filled in properly and have the discussions needed.

You don't need anyone to legally ratify it. The OPG ratifies it once you send it to them.

Use the https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-lasting-power website. Work your way through.

They even have an interactive checklist to make sure you've done it right before you submit.

It's quite easy to do online on the .gov website, then print off to sign, it's just getting it signed in the right order and making sure you don't miss any sections which is the fiddly bit.

That said, I've just sent my mum's off and it hasn't been registered yet. Apparently it takes them a few months once they receive it- 20 weeks.

I did it on gov website back in March and am now waiting for the 4 weeks cooling off period before they issue POA. Very easy to print off and get signed, much cheaper than through a solicitor too.

We’ve just done ours online, got our neighbour to ‘witness’ it , it’s taken a month to get the letters back from OPG and will take a further month ( legal waiting period in case of objections) before they’re fully registered.

I ordered hard copies x 3 in case of mistakes, from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) cos I’m too tight to spend my money on ink and paper. 🥹 and did my mum’s by hand last year.

Easy peasy but you must read the guidance notes because signatures have to be done in a particular order.

Sent off my paperwork with a cheque and all good.

Solicitors charge huge fees when in reality and a sensible head, the POA is easy to do. The OPG is very helpful on the phone, (I’ve heard,) too.

Signatures have to be done in a particular order but in reality there is no way of proving otherwise,
unless people are too stupid to put the same date on all of them or they put differing dates in the wrong order
of course.

The witness / certificate provider also needs a working brain, my neighbour put her full name where her signature should be so I had to print out that page again 🙄
You also have to send in every single numbered page, even the empty ones, otherwise it will be rejected.

I did POA myself online
Get someone to witness
Pay
Send off
Returns in a couple of weeks
Keep copies
No need for solicitor
Albino is on the www.gov.uk website

My husband and I recently did our own and it was very easy to do. The guidance is clear. You just need to read and follow it carefully. We did four at the same time (two each) and had to make sure we didn't get the signed pages muddled up.

We did it with two friends present. One signed to say that we were of sound mind and understood what we were doing. The other witnessed all the signatures.

Slow and steady but it's very doable. Be prepared for several layers of signatures.

Reminds me, DH and I need to redo ours giving POA to the kids. Sigh.

I've done both a finance one and a health one, and it's simple enough to do online if you are calm, have someone sensible to witness the signatures and the person who it's for is co-operative.

Definitely one of those documents to do sooner rather than later, the finance one was easier to tackle first as it was easier to talk about how to manage finance and bills if someone "had a stroke".

The health one I found needed a bit more sensitivity, and some open conversation about wishes, "if your heart stopped, would you want chest compressions"? "If you caught pneumonia, would you want antibiotics?".

You do not need a solicitor for any of that, but it's hard conversations none the less.

Thanks so much to everyone who responded, this is incredibly helpful - sorry about the typo in the heading, my iPad keyboard has gone a bit wonky this week! Really valuable advice and support on this thread, thanks so much. I am going to look into getting it started this weekend. 💐

OP I am a solicitor so prepare LPAs as part of my work. One point that you, your parents and their "witness" need to be very clear about is that the person acting as Certificate Provider is not just "witnessing" the signing (like with a Will or other deed), they are certifying that the donor has the mental capacity to donate a LPA at the time it was made. I have many clients who now have a professional (paid, solicitor) deputy because when the OPG looked into the circumstances of the creation of the LPA the "certificate provider" was Mrs Miggins from next door who'd stepped in for 2 minutes to witness a signature who had no idea what her role/responsibility was. There is excellent online guidance on who can act as CP - a lay person is fine, they just need to have known the donor for sufficient time and to be prepared to assure themselves that the donor understands what they are doing (including implications.)

Just to echo the above comment whilst it is perfectly possible for your parents to do this without a solicitor the ‘certificate provider’ is very much more than just a witness. They need to be satisfied that they understand the document they are signing and are not under any pressure to make it. In practice this would mean running through the document with them and checking understanding. A lay person can act (see guidance online) but must know the donor and understand their responsibility. If there is any doubt as to your parents mental capacity eg early stages of dementia then as long as they understand what they are signing, then they should get the a doctor to act as certificate provider and confirm understanding.

Thanks for the useful advice on the certificate provider. We did just ask a neighbour to witness the signatures, but the certificate provider was someone who has known my mum for 60 years and has recently done LPAs herself with her daughter.

Even the witness has known my mum for a number of years, and is a nurse working with older people.

This thread has been so helpful.
Thank you @Arlanymor for starting it !

I am in a similar position with my mum.

She has full capacity and has actually been nagging asking me to get the forms filled in !

I have the paper copies as I am a luddite !

It all seems pretty straightforward in our case .

I already have 3rd party on her bank accounts and have permission to speak to the bank on her behalf.

I manage her banking /bills on line..and in fact have managed to save her money in " suggesting alternatives " to some of the decisions she wanted carried out.!

She absolutely trusts me with her medical situations ...

(And yes ...I will be having that awkward conversation about DNR with her )

I can fill forms in.
I can get witness and CP in my mum's house at the same time for the signing.

(We all live in a very close proximity!)

So , by my reckoning...it should only cost mum £82 x 2 for the registration costs.

Am I being a bit naive ??

The witness and CP have both agreed to do it and have known mum for about 45/40 years respectively.

I just can't see what a solicitor would do ?

Ohh and I am allowed to speak to GP on her behalf .

@bizzey
I just can't see what a solicitor would do ?
The process is intended to be accessible to lay people without using solicitors, will writers etc.
The people who instruct solicitors tend to fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Have no-one in their network who could be attorney so they're appointing solicitors to act.
2. Have a diagnosis of a condition which may affect their capacity so want to have a professional certificate provider involved after being formally assessed to have the requisite mental capacity to donate a LPA.
3. Busy and happy to pay someone else to complete the paperwork and deal with the associated admin of registration etc.

Sounds like you are doing a grand job on your own!

I just wanted to come back to this to say thank you for all of the helpful advice and guidance - and glad it helped you too @bizzey !

My parents came to mine yesterday and we went through the process online, made the 4x payments (2x health and 2x finance/property) and printed out all of the documentation.

They are each other’s primary attorney and me and my sister are secondary. They are sharing a certificate provider, who has known both of them for 15+ years and is a former headteacher who has also been taken through everything by phone and will be in person with both of them at the end of the month to sign his bits and be taken through the declaration (for want of a better term) again. My sister and I will have separate witnesses for our parts. I also have made it very clear that, although not required by law, the witnesses for both my sister’s and my signatures should known to both of us for a considerable period of time. In my case nearly 20 years.

The order of signing is the trickiest part, but basically involves me driving a few hundred miles this month to get it all done in order. But it’s important that we get it right. Hopefully we will never ever need any of the four LPAs, but better to do it now when everyone can consent and saves so much pain later if the worst comes to the worst.

Thank you again for your support and help on this thread. It’s meant a lot. Dad is nearly 80 and mum not far behind, we’ve had a lot of chats about funerals too recently and as my parents moved last year they have updated their wills accordingly. The whole aim is not to pile administrative pain on top of grief.

Thanks to each and every one of you. Xxx

One of my payments got refunded about a week after I sent the form. So I guess I'll have to send a cheque when they get round to asking me. I wish they sent updates like the passport service.

Plus I don't even have a cheque book. Who does?

We had a bit of a laugh about that too. I know one person in the UK who still has a cheque book (my lovely, sweet landlord… he is older than my parents!) and me… but mine is from the four years that I lived in the Falkland Islands where cheques are literally like cash!

I think OPG let you pay again by card if the payment is reversed? If you give them a tinkle - 0300 456 0300 - I think they can advise?

They refunded both payments in early May and I just recently got two letters saying how to pay by card, which was very quick and easy. So hopefully both POAs are on their way to approval and registration now.

Fingers crossed! Ours were submitted a fortnight ago but it can take months apparently, so we will see…

Submitted in February and they came through last week, so there is a fair wait.