Power of attorney

[Crooklodge]

Has anyone applied for power of attorney recently and can tell me how long it took?

Fil has vascular dementia, the hospital and social Work are very up and down regarding capacity but the (hospital) Dr said today to apply right now.

He scored 59 on the ACE test last week, I'm not sure he's actually got capacity you know?

Done via mail but not successful x 3 as slight problems with signatures, dates etc. Have to pay each time.

My DM was submitted around this time last year. Its still not registered, apparently there is a backlog. Once you have submitted it though you seem to be able to have some powers as i had to do something on behalf on DM and a letter from lawyer confirming submission and the backlog was accepted.

Taking about 8 months to be registered but you can ask for urgent registration

We applied for powers of attorney for each other (so therefore not urgent) at the beginning of September last year just before we went off on holiday and they're still not registered.

We were told by the lawyers that it was taking 8-9 months because of the backlog but that if something were to happen to either of us, it would be expedited.

You can check on the OPG website where they are up to with registration
Currently end of August 23 for postal sumissions

Please could you send this link on? Sorry to derail slightly but as my pp, my mums isnt registered from before Aug 23 so I would like to follow up. Thank you

www.public guardian-scotland.gov.uk

Sorry no space between public and guardian

The person the POA refers to must have the capacity to authorise it and then nominate the person/s to be the executors of it. If the person already has been diagnosed with dementia then it may already be too late.

There is seemingly a backlog of approx.9 months for actual registration of the document but once it is completed, signed and paid for then it will be fine should anything occur in the interim.

I set up mine for my children and started I think late 22/23 and mine have only just come through a couple of weeks ago!!. So over a year and my children still haven't heard from the OPG so my lawyer said to let him know if they hadn't. I'm just 60 and was redoing my will so just added it on.

It's around 10 months, however, if the granter has lost capacity and the Attorney needs to exercise the powers, you can ask for the registrations to be prioritised. The OPG are usually very understanding and will turn it around within a few days or a week.

Out of interest did you all do these through lawyers and how much did it cost ?
My father in law has just done one through lawyers and it cost £4000 which I thought was a awful lot .

We had ours done through lawyers (Glasgow city centre ones so not cheap but they were/are doing the executry on my dad’s estate) and it cost c£700 for two (dh and me: mirro lr versions, including SIL as an alternate). IIRC, the gist of registering them with the OPG was £80 each, included in that cost (it’s a bit of a blur as we were going off on holiday as well as dealing with my dad’s death the month before).

£4,000 sounds more like the cost of guardianship, which is what doing the POA is trying to avoid.

The cost of registering them

Cost of registration went up from 85 to 87 yesterday

Thank you for info

Dh and my Powers of Attorney for each other (SIL also has it, in case something happened to both of us) have now finally been registered: 10 months since they were applied for!

So @Lexlum got it right

Can I buy a template to complete?
Or has it got to be via a solicitor?

@TheShellBeach I had bought a template on the Which website, completed it myself and had it witnessed by a solicitor and submit it for registration at OPG (in Sept last year)

Ah, thank you!
I've been trying to find this out for ages.

Even Citizen's Advice said I couldn't use a template in Scotland.

You need it signed off by a solicitor or GP
I don’t sign off on a POA unless I have prepared it,far too risky
Local GP charges £250

Thank you. £250 is still cheaper than £4000 though.

The pair of POAs that dh and I had done for each of us (financial and welfare, but welfare would only activate if we lost capacity) cost us £700. That includes the free for registering with the OPG.

That was a city centre lawyer (who was already dealing with my father's estate) so I'm sure you could find cheaper.

£4,000 is almost definitely for guardianship, when the person has already lost capacity, which is much more complicated - and expensive . That's why it's worth getting it done while you still have capacity

Thank you @prettybird

We get Pension Credit so I think that registering POAs is much cheaper for us.

It's getting them written which is proving a stumbling block.