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.

Thank you, that’s really helpful to know. Will make a note in my diary for September/October!

While this thread is still active can I be a pain and double check something that I am sure has already been answered !

I mentioned earlier that I was toying with doing it myself ...
Well as we had to get new wills done and it was stressing me out to the hilt we did a bundle !

Forms are all ready to be signed.

Can the witness be the Certificate Provider ?

IE ..we just need 1 other person with us tomorrow?

What exactly does the Certificate Provider do ?

DM's friend is signing and I thought it would be good to check if she was clear in what she was signing !

Thanks !

Sorry !!
Ignore me 😂.

I found a very simple explanation online that I now know , what I was going to tell the CP/W is correct !

Having a mild panic at finally getting all her legal stuff finished and don't want to make a mistake t the last hurdle !

I feel your pain! It isn’t a straightforward process is it?!

I think the OPG give themselves 20 weeks to register it, so it's about five months. From payment that would give them until end of October for ours. Though it sounds like @WowIlikereallyhateyou 's were dealt with in more like four months which is good.

We did mum's today at the solicitors.( I told her we could do it ourselves,but she insisted on the solicitor doing it). The solicitor said that we'll be looking at 20 weeks before it would be registered. We did Financial and medical. She also suggested that mum ring her GPs and fill in whatever form they are using to record her wishes regarding resuscitation,treatments ect as that would be on her medical record and available immediately a crisis occurs rather than waiting for me or my sister to turn up with the Medical POA paperwork. That is something that I hadn't considered and I thought very important.

@Feckedupbundle ..that's good to know , thank you.

Forms were signed today but we also had the discussion of a DNR.

DM has said she wants a DNR , but you are right...waiting xx amount of months for that to be put in place could be awkward.

Good to know her DNR wishes can be registered separately.

As an side , in case it helps anyone ...

I forgot that we had put my son down as an extra attorney in case I was unavailable or whatever...

There was 1 page on each of the forms for him to sign with a witness.

Long story short !

He can sign separately from the CP /W for my mum

I can just give him and his witness the 2 individual pages to sign.

It will mean a trip to where her lives ...meet him in the pub next to the station...buy him and friend //witness a pint ...and come back on the train !

1 1/2 hour train each way !

Still.....a bit cheaper ,safer and quicker than sending it to him recorded ...and waiting for him to send it back to me recorded 😂😂

For future health wishes have a look at the Respect process https://www.resus.org.uk/respect which may be being used in your area.

Kudos all round! It's one of those things that most of us put off because it does appear complex, but it's so necessary.
Relax and breath. Wine as a reward!

Thanks lovely!

We've filed now (is that the right word - put all of the bollox in an envelope and sent it off!) and I went home this weekend to spend a bit of time with my folks.

I reminded that my dad that it could take months to process, so we might not hear back for a while... he was the one who grumbled a bit doing it, though he did it freely and did acknowledge that it was important (and I kept telling him the whole point is that hopefully we never have to use it!)

Interestingly, in the meantime he has spoken to his mates and had three of his friends report how their lives have been poorly impacted by the lack of an LPA in either health or finances, so suddenly he is very evangelical about it!

So complex, but so necessary as you say. Wine is the best reward (had one earlier when I got home as it was a bit of a saga!) Cheers!

I set one up for myself and ensured the date of signing was the same for all parties so there could be no comeback.