Power of Attorney Refund

thanks Steve Mrs C has PoA for her mum so will look into this

We did a couple back in 2015. Would be nice to get a few bob back. That and our wills cost a small fortune.

I know this is going slightly off topic but can someone explain the pros and cons of Power of Attorney? Is there an ideal age to set it up and what powers does the individual retain once the Power of Attorney has been signed and sealed.

David

If this helps anyone here is a place to start.

Gov.uk

I now feel guilty as we haven't set ours up yet, we will do the whole thing via a solicitor as I will want everything done without any room for error. My mother set hers up years ago and it has been a godsend now that she has failing health. My sister and I operate it together, all involved have been helpful when needed. I must make sure we get ours done asap to save any of the family having the additional burden of any involvement with outside parties.

My wife, and her sister (you can have more than one) has now been involved in two, one for each parent. When one does it depends upon many factors, but the ability to remember and make informed decisions about their own affairs both financial and medical were the basis for theirs. Also was the fact that one was, and now one is housebound was a consideration. It made life easier as they could buy things/services or obtain money on their behalf without pretending to be them, and could use internet banking and manage their money. They would fully explain everything of course and both parents could also perform these tasks themselves and retain full powers over their accounts but sadly lost either the interest or capacity. It did make dealing with these things a whole lot easier.

There are two types that  cover financial and medical.   

I suppose the cons are that you need to trust your attorneys but I'll be very happy to have my children have that for me when required.

AgeUK offers help and advice on their web site.

see here

It is worth reading through the section on "what if I don't have a power of attorney."

My hubby and I both had PoA for our mothers who are now both deceased. 

We each have PoA for ourselves naming a particular person(s) as we never know what tomorrow brings.  We could be severely injured and unable to carry out our own affairs so this is the reason for us doing ours. Trying to get banks, etc., to talk to you if you're not the account holder is impossible.

It does depend on how complex you want to make them. However, I set the two (health + finance ) up for my mum. There was just the one Attorney (me) so that made it a bit more straightforward. The instructions on the government site are very good and take you through the process. I did look at getting a solicitor to do it but it was expensive. Some quote the cost without the submission fees, which of course made them look less than the were.

One thing to perhaps bear in mind if you intend to have more than one Attorney. When I went to the bank to sort a maturing bond and open a savings account in my mums name, which we could then use to pay care costs. They mentioned two attorneys would have made the process much more complicated. Especially if both need to sign / agree.

Prompted by this thread I have booked to see the solicitor this week to arrange an LPA but not the medical one. I know it will cost more money but I want to run through a few things with a legal beagle. 

I can honestly say my sister and I have had no great difficulties operating our mother's PofA, the bank involved has been very helpful, it did take a while before we finally got everything working smoothly but we are so glad our mother put all this in place for us. We always hoped she wouldn't need it but as Jill rightly said in her post, you never know what might happen.

We did ours about 5 years back, you need to do it while you still have mental capacity, once you have lost the plot it has to be done though the Court of Protection, or something like that, which is very expensive.

We have each named the other, then our children, only one person needed to sign for anything.

We have registered ours so they are ready for immediate use, I think that cost us about £50 each, and our solicitor has certified  copies that can be shown as required.  Ours somehow temporarily  got lost in our solicitor's office for several months, so they waived their own fee.

We retain full control over everything for as long as we wish or are able.

We do already have wills, but they were made about 25 years back, so we are reviewing them and need to see our solicitor to get them changed.