Power of Attorney Refund
If any of you have applied for a power of attorney between April 2013 and March 2017 you can apply for a refund from the government, as they have lowered their prices and it is back dated.
If the donor is still alive it can easily be done online. If deceased a little more complicated as you have to talk to them. After 20 mins hanging on the phone I have opted for the email route, reply within 10 days☹️
Worth doing though, as with two LPA's my refund will come to £68 plus interest.
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thanks Steve Mrs C has PoA for her mum so will look into this
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We did a couple back in 2015. Would be nice to get a few bob back. That and our wills cost a small fortune.
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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
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If this helps anyone here is a place to start.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
The ones for my mum were a lot more than that, which is I assume the reason for the rebate. I would think the reduction in cost is because they want to encourage folk to set them up.
Very wise only needing one to sign. I think that would have been the problem with setting up a new account. They would not have allowed internet access if two attorneys needed to sign. Also if my sister had been an Attorney, that would have caused problems in opening a UK account, as she lives abroad.
It is always worth immediately registering, otherwise if one of your witnesses dies you have to start again. (In England anyway) Once registered it has no affect.
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The cost in Scotland to register a POA is now £75, so it has gone up a bit, we did ours about 4-5 years back.
We have done both Financial and Welfare ones, no extra cost if done together.
There is a standard text here you can use, but we were able to remove any bits we did not want included.
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We have 3 of us that are Mum's POA, myself, my sister and my husband as he is also the executor of her will.
With us travelling for half of the year it made sense for both my sister and I to have POA, she keeps the bank card for Mum's current account while we have the cheque books (any of the 3 can sign a cheque) my husband does the online banking. The only thing with the online is you need the card + card reader if paying something that has not already been set up. Once this had all been done its not been a problem.
Having the POA set up before Mum's dementia got bad has made life so much easier having to deal with Social Services, Banks, Care homes, DWP etc.
We haven't done ours yet or will's
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We've got our PofAs under way now. Have always kept our wills up to date, watching the extra distress and paperwork suffered by a bereaved neighbour of ours just now after a spouse refused to make a will has been a reminder about what happens if you don't.
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We set up PofA for our children to operate and help us in the future if necessary. However that was in the days of the Enduring PofA, and this has now changed to Lasting PofA. I seems a lot of expense to have to bin the EPA's and start all over again setting up LPA's Anyone out there with the old EPA's and with the same predicament as me ?
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My parents set up PoA a couple of years ago - but only the financial one. This has proved a problem during last year as my father fell seriously ill (has been in ill-health a long time) and whilst in ITU, we had to have the 'conversation'. Mum was shocked to find that she had no say in his care at all as she wasn't the patient and as his wife without PoA could not make decisions on his behalf. These decisions were then made by the doctors treating him and ended with a DNR which she didn't agree with. Thankfully he recovered but he still won't consider the medical PoA as feel it is unnecessary despite the stress and upset not having one caused.
We are only just in our 50's but will make one as soon as is practicable as I don't want the same to happen to us.
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Our PofAs will name each other firstly and then our children. We have decided not to do the medical bit as I have found that sharing a PofA with my sister for our Mum we have also been able to make medical decisions jointly with those involved in Mum's care in a practical manner. There is also the procedure where you set down your own wishes for medical intervention and this was done my mother (in her present care home,) it's called an advance statement. The main thing is to get these things done whilst you are still capable of making decisions.
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Thanks brue. I need to study and consider the value of starting the procedure again whilst still able. as a belt and braces cover all. The finance would be duplication but the welfare would be additional. I think one advantage would be that an LPA would be registered as part of the arranging and would be immediately available at short notice.
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