What is involved in becoming a lasting power of attorney?

[usernametaken135]

I have recently been asked to take on lasting power of attorney for a distant relative. They don’t have their own children and have alienated other family members hence I was asked. We don’t have much of a relationship.
I want to help but work full time with a young family so I’m worried it will take a lot of time - especially the financial LPA. My relative isn’t very good with money and has got into debt in the past so I worry that I might have to manage this if he loses capacity in the future.
Does anyone have experience of being a LPA - how much time it takes, any specific challenges etc?!
Thank you!

I am an LPA for my father. There are two aspects to it - financial and health and wellbeing - so firstly you need to understand which your relative wants you to hold. Health and Wellbeing gives the power to take medical decisions on the person's behalf, e.g. you could decide to put them in a care home.

Also, are you to hold this in sole capacity or with someone else, and if someone else is involved, do you/your relative want you both to be able to act independently (jointly and severally).

There's a lot of form-filling to set it up, and then quite a wait in my experience for it to be registered.

Once you hold it, you have to make sure you can evidence anything you do with it is for the benefit of the donor (your relative). If he still has capacity and is acting for himself at the moment, there shouldn't be too much involved. If you need to act for him, you'll have to get the financial LPA registered with all his financial providers. A challenge my sister and I faced was actually finding out where all my dad's bank accounts were! Then you will need to keep evidence of any transactions so you can show they were legitimately for the donor's benefit.

I don't have experience of managing debt with a LPA - if my father has any, we haven't been able to uncover it. He had a couple of long-unused credit cards that we cancelled for security reasons, and that was a faff and a half, requiring registering for their online banking etc.

It is a big responsibility and particularly as this is a distant relative, it will be harder than it was for my sister and me and our dad, as we at least knew roughly where he banked, what his financial state was etc.

The background of family acrimony in your case is also something I would be wary of - is there a risk anyone might accuse you of misappropriating funds, for example? If you keep good records, that would be easy to disprove, but it would be unavoidably unpleasant. If it were me, I would feel more comfortable doing this jointly with another family member to minimise that risk.

In a nutshell, it's a lot of work for someone you don't have much of a relationship with - do you want to do take this on out of the goodness of your heart?

If no LPA is set up and he loses capacity, eventually someone will need to apply for Court of Protection for him - this is even more hassle and expense to set up than LPA as you have to get evidence of loss of capacity and pay court fees ( we did it for our mum) and then a similar situation managing it moving forward. So that is also something to bear in mind.

Wishing you luck whatever you decide.

My dad had LPOA for a family friend who had no children. It did take up quite a lot of his time. Not so much at first (although he did have to spend a lot of time extracating her from catalogue debts as she didn't understand what she was signing up to) but as she declined he had to deal with everything, carers going in (and her refusal to engage), then when she went into hospital and finally findind and arranging a residential home.

My experience is quite old before the system changed and it was time consuming. I would not go so far as to say don't do it but I would say in the circumstances that you describe think long and hard....and then think long and hard again. Its a serious and responsible thing to take on even for someone you know well and are close to. If he is already unreliable with money, TBH it sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

Regarding Court of Protection no one HAS to set this up to them in terms of requiring a friend or relative to do it. If no one is willing or able then it can be done through Social Services. I mention this because you appear to imply that the OP might need to do this if she doesn't accept the LPA. She won't unless she chooses to.

I had LPA for my mother. She developed dementia so I had to use it for ten long years. My mother's finances were well set up but she had money in a lot of different places so it was quite time consuming registering the LPA with various institutes and then consolidating everything. And then I had to organise her care at home, and her move to a care home, and clearing her flat. It is a big responsibility.

There is no way on earth I would do it for a distant relative, especially one with debt problems. As PP says, if you don't get LPA you are not obliged to do anything at all.

I did it for a relative who was nervous about it and I was able
to reassure him. I opted to not to
much with it eg declined to be involved with will but did help me sort out disabled badge and benefits which took a few minutes only. I suppose I could’ve been involved with care decisions but he had capacity until end so didn’t need to.

It's a power to act, not an obligation. You don't take on any responsibility to undertake any particular course of action. If it gets too much, you can decline to involve yourself further, or resign your position at any time.

Actually you kind of do get an obligation to act in certain ways. You can't just take on the role and do nothing and what you decide to do has to be guided by the principles of doing what is in accordance with what the person would want but also what is in their best interests. If the person is still competent, as he would seem to be otherwise a POA couldn't happen, and already is unreliable with money, to me it sounds like a shitshow waiting to happen and i would be staying well clear.

I have financial LPA for my parent who is now in a care home. Parent has dementia so I’m glad it was set up prior to their capacity waning.

However it is quite a lot of effort - particularly registering it with absolutely everyone - and I don’t think I’d be willing to do it for anyone but a close relative or very close friend. Particularly if they are prone to debt.

You can't just take on the role and do nothing

why? What will happen to you?

If the LPA is registered then the OP will have a duty towards the donor and the Office of the Public guardian can get involved if the Attorney fails to act or acts wrongly....But why would you do this? I mean why would anyone willingly agree to take on an LPA for a distant relative who has a history of being irresponsible with money and doubly why would they agree to do it and then do nothing?

the Office of the Public guardian can get involved if the Attorney fails to act

I’m actually curious though, what action can be taken against an Attorney who chooses not to exercise their powers. Is there a precedent for that?

why would they agree to do it and then do nothing?

oh, because while they were quite happy to help an old person occasionally with their online banking, they’ve not the time or inclination to take on aggressive debt recovery services, credit card companies, banks, bailiffs and county court actions, mortgage companies and other nightmare stuff.

It’s the voluntary power to administer someone’s property financial affairs, if you want to; not the unending obligation to deal with whatever financial shit that person lands themselves in, come what may.

that's why its important to understand what is involved and to think carefully about whether to go ahead or not.

It really depends in the situation. There’s a poster on the Elderly Parents board who is POA for an elderly relative at a distance, and she seems not to find it too onerous. But I think there are no other family members (so no arguing about what to do), and her relative is in a care home and has no capacity (so not endlessly negotiating or firefighting poorly made decisions as capacity slips away).

if there is family acrimony and an uncooperative older person with poor decision making skills, and capacity that comes and goes… I’d steer clear!

I think you can safely say yes now, and decide it’s too much later and decide to not go ahead any further at that time.

Mostly because you don’t (and cannot) at this time time know what it’s going to involve at that time.

This person could die in a road traffic accident in two weeks, or live to 105 after suffering Alzheimer’s disease and resulting incapacity for 25 of them. Who can tell at this time?

Were you able to substantiate your claim that failing to act would have consequences for an Attorney? Would be helpful to know if it was true.

Nowone can say how much input this would need, depends on the circumstsnces. However given the info youve provided id assume it wouldnt be straightforward.
I support a relative who lives 200 miles away and yes its time consuming. things come out of nowhere at the drop of a hat.
It would be unfair to agree to undertake LPA if you have any doubts, this would leave the person with nowone to act on their behalf.
Has this person recieved a diagnosis prompting this? You could try to have a convo with this person and see how transparent they are about their finances. Your statement I worry that I might have to manage this if he loses capacity in the future. indicates that he should look elsewhere, a solicitor perhaps?