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Find financial and money saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum.

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Find financial and money saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum.

Money matters

Power of Attorney

30 replies

suedonim · 20/04/2007 21:19

Someone tell me about Power of Attorney, please! My 79yo mum has had a few health wobbles lately and although I'm hoping it's just a blip, it's made me wonder about making plans for the future. How is PofA arranged and what does it allow you to do? How much does it cost? Tia.

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SittingBull · 20/04/2007 21:39

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peachygirl · 20/04/2007 21:40

My dad did something like the guardianship thing through the local authority when my Nan was ill. You may be able to sort it easily through them

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SittingBull · 20/04/2007 21:42

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suedonim · 20/04/2007 21:58

That's very useful, esp the guardianship thing which I didn't know about. At the moment I'm just thinking of the financial aspect as mum is very with-it up top but has been unable to go out because of her health problem.

I seem to recall, there's some issue about timing eg PofA (and presumable guardianship) have to be arranged while the person is still compos mentis - is that correct?

Also, what about siblings, do they have to be consulted or would it be up to mum what she does?

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SittingBull · 20/04/2007 22:16

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suedonim · 20/04/2007 22:31

Okay, thanks. Next thing is - how do I raise the subject with my mum without her taking offence??

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maisym · 20/04/2007 22:35

check the court of protection wensite - you can download all the info & forms.

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maisym · 20/04/2007 22:36

the blood line family members do have to be informed of the pofa in case they want to oppose it. They have to be written down on the form & contacted.

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suedonim · 20/04/2007 22:59

A silly question, Maisie - what's a bloodline family member? My older bro and sis are my mum's stepchildren but she looked after them from the ages of 4yrs and 10 mths.

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suedonim · 20/04/2007 23:01

And my mum lives in Scotland but my siblings are in England - does that make any difference?

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figroll · 21/04/2007 15:48

I would definitely recommend getting power of attorney. We have it for our fil who is very elderly and infirm and also housebound. It means that we can pay his bills and sort everything financial out for him because he is totally incapable himself.

You always think it is never going to happen, but it suddenly does and I don't know how we would manage if we didn't have power of attorney. My dh is now signatory on all bank accounts, etc. We did ours through the solicitor and I don't think it was expensive. Do it now whilst you still can - I think if they go a bit loopy you can't do it.

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RustyBear · 21/04/2007 16:04

You can have the EPA drawn up, but you don't have to register it yet. That's when you inform relatons. The thing about informing the relations is that you have to inform at least 3, but this can include you. You work down this list in this order,

The donor's spouse,
The donor's children (including adopted children, but not step-children),
The donor's parents,
The donor's brothers and sisters (including half- brothers and sisters),
The widow or widower of a child of a donor,
The donor's grandchildren,
The children of the donor's brothers and sisters (i.e. nephews and nieces of whole blood),
The children of the donor's brothers and sisters (i.e. nephews and nieces of the half blood),
The donor's aunts and uncles (but not if they are only related by marriage),
The children of the donor's aunts and uncles (i.e. first cousins).

but you must include everyone in a particular category (if they are over 18)So if you have five siblings, you would have to tell all of them.

In the case of my MIL, when we register the EPA, as she has no husband, siblings or parents, DH & SIL will register it jointly, & that counts as 2. For the third, they will notify our DS who is 19, but not DD or SIL's children who are all under 18. But if they were 18, they would all have to be notified.

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fortyplus · 21/04/2007 16:08

Bear in mind that Enduring Power of Attorney needs to be witnessed by someone who can testify that the person is of sound mind. So a form downloaded from the internet may not be the best option. We had a form drawn up by a Solicitor for my Grandad back in 1998 - I can't remember how much we paid, which means it can't have been expensive.

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RustyBear · 21/04/2007 16:10

This is the Public Guardianship website - has lots of info - see the FAQ

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maisym · 21/04/2007 23:11

bloodline - meant the closest relative. For the list given by Russybear you have to start at the top and work downwards until you have a living relative/s.

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suedonim · 22/04/2007 01:26

Thanks, that's great. It looks a bit complicated so if Mum wants to do this then I think it'll be worth going to a solicitor and doing it properly. Luckily her health is improving so I hope we won't need to use an EPA just yet.

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zookeeper · 22/04/2007 08:40

I'd heard that the law is about to change on this - my impression is that it will become much harder to do after the end of April
I might be completely wrong but do check.

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Babyramone · 23/04/2007 18:40

what happens if parent has live in partner.
We're sorting out POA my mum and she wants her partner (non married live in)to have the finacial bit with my sister. This makes sense as he lives there but he is a bit of a chancer so me and sister just want to make sure it's all above board.

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prettybird · 24/04/2007 13:12

Suedonim - don't know if it helps, but given your Mum is in Scotland, I presume she would be covered by Scots Law.

My Dad is going thorugh this at the moment: my Mum and Dad signed Powers of Attorney documents for each other literally the day they went off on a cycling holiday. While they were were on holiday, Mum had a bad accident (I've mentioned it on Mumsnet) and sustained a bad head injury. Dad is now in the porcess of registering his Power of Attorney to act on her behalf - and I, as his dagihter, have not been asked to "approve" anything. And I know for sure, if I've not been asked, then my brother won't have been either.

The solicitor did say to Dad that he needed to think about who should have Power of Attonrey for him, should anything happen to him, as at the moment, Mum is obviously not capable of taking it on

Hopefully she will eventually get better, but in the mean time, he needs an alternate choice.

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suedonim · 24/04/2007 23:52

Zookeeper, dh mentioned that he'd read there were changes coming up re POA. If it applies in Scotland and starts at the end of this month then we'll have to do it under the new rules, whatever they are.

Prettybird, I have followed some of your story. Dh's mum had POA (but not enduring POA) for his dad but I'm fairly sure dh was never informed offically about it. His sister has POA for their mum but we only found out by-the-by - not that it's an issue for us or anything.

I'm going to see mum tomorrow so I'll see if I'm brave enough to raise the subject!

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suedonim · 26/04/2007 01:39

Bggr, mum doesn't want to know. After informing me she was up to speed about POA, she skillfully turned every attempt to discuss it to other subjects.

I know it's her choice but it'll be me who has to deal with the fallout if she ends up unable to deal with her own affairs. I'm going back to Nigeria on Friday where phone calls are difficult, so maybe I'll spend some time putting together a letter to send home to her, where I can explain my side of the issue and she can't argue back - until July, at any rate!

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prettybird · 26/04/2007 08:51

Maybe in a letter you can point out to her that you won't be able to exercise it until it has been registered, which would only be after your mum had stopped being able to cope. Maybe she's worried about you taking over and losing her independence.

Or then again, maybe she's just sticking her head in the sand and doesn't want to face up to the fact that it might one day happen.

Have you and your dh sorted out powers of aottorney for each other in case sometihng were to happen (after what happened to mum, it has reminded dh and me that we should also be doing it for each other). maybe that would persuade her that it is just a common sense thing to do and nothing per se to do with her getting old.

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suedonim · 26/04/2007 13:28

Mum just phoned me to have a wee chat about it! She started by saying that she still has all her marbles so it isn't necessary yet so I explained that that is why it would need to be done now. I did tell her what happened to your parents, Prettybird and I think that has impressed on her what it's about.

She's now fretting about who she'd ask to do it as my siblings are all down south and I'm abroad, but I told her I can come back if the need arises. Presumably a trusted friend can also do it? Anyway, she's going to see her solictior about it so that's some progress.

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prettybird · 26/04/2007 14:43

That's good news Suedonim. Glad my parents' sitation was able to be of some assisitance! At least she is now thinking about it.

One day you might actually come to a meet-up - I feel like I've "known" you for years. But you alwyas seem to arrange to be going back somewhere exotic just before a meet-up!

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suedonim · 26/04/2007 21:56

Exotic - I wish! Are you meaning a Scottish meet-up, PB? I don't usually look at the meet up threads, tbh.

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