General Chat

Could I call upon the collective wisdom of you wonderful GR members for some advice, please?

My mum is 84 and her memory is deteriorating. She gets very confused about handling money, can no longer use a debit card (can't remember the PIN), keeps losing her cheque book ... etc.

She relies on me to help her with these things. I suggested to her that she gives my brother and me Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for financial and property matters. Once it's applied for, we can activate it when the need arises.

I've completed the online form, followed the guidelines, and am now ready to approach a GP or similar person to sign the form to confirm that my mum understands what the LPA is for.

Yesterday I met a friend who is going through the same process for her husband. She says she has been trying to get it sorted for 8 months and it has cost her a lot of money. She has been using a solicitor, so this is one of the reasons for the expense!

She also said that the GP charged her £100 to write a letter to confirm her husband's state of health.

The online guidelines for LPA application give the impression that you don't need to involve a solicitor, but you do, of course, need to follow the instructions to the letter to ensure the application isn't rejected.

Am I being naive in thinking that this should be a straightforward process?

Does anyone else have any experience of this, and if so, what pitfalls should I expect?

Many thanks

Liz

I and my sister had Power of Attorney for my Dad but that was 10 years ago before this new procedure. They did warn that the new procedure would be more expensive. We went through a solicitor. I suspect doctors costs may vary so it is worth checking how much your Mum's doctor will charge. Not sure how complicated it is now so hopefully somebody with experience will help you.

Thanks Ann,

The basic registration costs, as I understand it from the guidelines, are around £250 (not counting solicitor's or doctor's fees).

In case anyone is interested in the 'new procedure' that Ann mentions, it is here: http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk/forms/Making-an-LPA.htm

Liz

Hope you get things sorted.

Like Ann of Glos, I had to go through this with my mother before the new version was introduced, but unfortunately she was too confused to agree to sign, so we had to apply through the Court of Protection. She died 2 days before the case was due to be heard, and we were unable to stop it. The Solicitor was instructed to refund part of the fee.

It might be worth contacting the DWP ***now*** so they register you as a 'friend'. I didn't need to have Dad's EPA invoked. It was so much easier when my father had a stroke and had to move. They wouldn't have accepted the change of address otherwise.

The moral of this is that as our parents age, is to get it all in place not only for them, but also for ourselves waaaay before it is needed. OH and mine were drawn up 3 years ago, and neither of us are 'retired'

Hi Barbara and DET,

Gosh, this is great advice. I hadn't thought of the Citizens' Advice Bureau, but know from previous experience that they are brilliant.

The Dept of Work & Pensions ... that's also a very helpful suggestion, which I will now look into, as I know v. little about it!

Thank you both!

Liz

Liz,

Another action, which we have done, is to ask your Mother to make you another signatory on her bank accounts. This is a simple process just needing a form or two filling in. We have done this for Mum-in-law and my husband can keep a track of the incomings and outgoings. It could be an interim measure for you. (We have also gone down the POA, but before the new rules. Thankfully, we haven't really needed it yet.)

Elisabeth

This reminds me of something I read recently. People tend to think that Power of Attorney is only needed when our relatives get old and frail and their memory starts to go so they have time to organise things.
I read of a man who was in his 40's and had a stroke, or an accident (can't remember the detail) but it left him with severe memory problems. By the time they got the paperwork sorted out they were on the verge of losing their home because the wife couldn't access the bank account.
So maybe it's something we should all think about?

Hi Liz

We have just completed PoA for my father. We first did it a couple of years ago through the solicitor, and more recently returned to her to have it registered at the court of the public guardian. I can't remember how much the initial session with her was, but the recent bill was £300.00, part of which was court fees and part solicitors fees.

There are certain legal procedures which must be gone through before the court can approve you as attorney. One of these procedures is that at least 3 of the "patient's" relatives must be sent a special form to fill in, in order to give them the right to object to your becoming an attorney. If they do object they have a certain amount of time in which to register their concerns at the court. If the court does not hear from them then it will administer PoA within a few weeks. It took from December to March to fully complete all these stages, so if time is of paramount importance, then the sooner it is done the better.

The court will then provide all the paperwork necessary for you to produce to the banks etc for them to register you as attorney on their systems.

Hope this helps.

Dianne xx

Hi to all who have replied recently.

Elisabeth - I didn't realise that I could become a signatory on my Mum's bank account - that is a great suggestion of something practical I can do in the short term.

LadyInRed ... yes, I agree! I said this to my husband in front of my Mum - "maybe we should think about getting PoA too." Partly because I meant it, but also to show her that it's not just for elderly people. Mum thinks it's an admission that there's something wrong with her, and she's being quite obstructive about the "people to be told" process that Dianne has just explained. She says she doesn't want anyone to know. She thinks there's a stigma attached to it.

Dianne - thanks - it's good to know that it can be done relatively smoothly.

Mum's GP is going to call me to discuss it next week. Then I will find out how much he will charge for signing the form!

We will get there eventually.

Thank you all so much for your help with this.

Liz

Liz,

If you consider the extra signing on the account - do it sooner rather than later. It was a simple process for us, but the bank will probably want to see Mum and have her sign the permission forms in front of them. (Only right really, or we could all just be tapping into accounts.)

Best of luck to you. As my old aunt used to say "There is no fun in getting old."

Elisabeth
x

I hope we have covered all angles for ourselves. Having no close relatives who we would ask to do this, we have got joint accounts and also made wills, leaving all possessed to each other. Then we have made identical bequests which will be fulfilled when the last one dies.

Jean,

I have a slightly older friend who is a widow and who was an only child, as was her husband, She has no children and obviously no nephews or nieces. She has her solicitor as one of the people who has Power of Attorney, but wanted someone else who can look at things from a personal aspect. She asked me to act for her, should the need arise.

Elisabeth

That's good advice, Elisabeth (for me and for Jean!).

I might not be able to access GR for a few days now, but hope this thread continues to help others as well as me.

Again, thank you everyone for your input. I now have many ideas to follow up.

Liz

I have Power of Attorney for my grans affairs and it was done after the change to LPA.

As she is in a residential home, they said they could not get involved and recommended that I contact Age Concern for advice as an aunt and an uncle at that time had power of attorney and my gran no longer wanted them to have it.

Age concern were very helpful. They visited my gran and also recommended a local solicitor who went to the home and did all the necessary paperwork. It took 3-4 months all together as my grans four children all had 6 weeks in which to raise any objections and then it was registered at court.

The LPA and a new will cost around £350 and in order to have power of attorney over her bank accounts the banks made copies of the LPA.

It was quite easy to, do but the fact my nan although she was 98 at the time had all her marbles did make it easier.

Chris