please talk me through lasting power of attorney re. my grandma

[ruddynorah]

situation is my grandma is in hospital yet again, she's 89 this year, and will probably go into nursing care after hospital.

she is widowed, and her only child died. leaving me and my sister. she also has two aged brothers. they both live 9 hours drive away from her. me and my sister live 2 hours drive from her. she has good friends and neighbours who help a lot, and has had a half decent care package in place that has kept her at home for this long inbetween hospital stays.

clearly we need to get LPA in place. i seem to be the best suited to act as attorney. i'm the eldest grandchild, the nearest to her, and already deal with much of her affairs. my sister is fine with this and i expect her brothers will be too.

so on the face of it is this ok? does it matter that my sister and i are the only beneficiaries of her will or is this irrelevant? i know as attorney i have to keep files and accounts etc in case of inspection or dispute later.

i've looked at doing the forms myself but it looks like a massive job. i think i'd prefer a solicitor to do it. how would this work, seeings as i'm in leeds and grandma is in cumbria? do i need a solicitor near her? would they need to meet her? or can most of it be done by post? how does it normally work if the person is in hospital?

thank you!

anyone? my head is pounding with all this..

If you want a solicitor to do it, they would need to meet her. Have a look at the Office of the Public Guardian website, they have some very good guidance notes that explain the process. Essentially, she has to have mental capacity to make an LPA, and someone has to certify this on the form. It can be a professional like a solicitor or doctor (but it has to be someone different to the solicitor who completed the forms) etc or someone who has known her personally for two years I think. You can fill in the forms yourself, no need to get a solicitor to do it - they will charge upwards of £250 for the privilege, but you can get the forms for free on the OPG website.

If you do use a solicitor, they will visit her, complete the forms and then send them to you and your sister as her attorneys to sign. They don't need to meet you, this part can be done by post. It is irrelevant that you happen to be the beneficiaries of her Will. There are quite tight restrictions on what you can and cannot do with her money - you cannot make gifts unless she was in the habit of making them (like gifts to grandchildren at Christmas and the like)

If your grandma is in hospital and there might be a question about her mental capacity, I would ask a doctor to complete the certificate (the part that certifies she has capacity) for the avoidance of doubt later on.

Hope this helps, but do have a look at the OPG website, and if you're stuck, call them up, the helpline is usually quite good.

thank you. i'm now looking at 10minutewill.com as they'll do it for me for £30 ish. seems the same as printing them off and doing it myself, only they type the info in for me. then i just go about getting all the relevant signatures.