General Chat

Please has anyone done one of these themselves? I'd like to know if it's fairly straightforward.

Yes we did one through our solicitor a while ago when hubby was diagnosed with dementia .

It was very straight forward .they went through what was wanted and prepared the document and registered it for us too

Wasn't cheap . Cost us about £800 I seem to remember. And this did include two visits to the solicitor to and the registration fee

But it does give a peace of mind as hubbies memory fails

Edit I didn't read your enquiry as did you do it yourself , sorry

We've been quoted £1,000 which seems an awful lot of money for a form to be filled in and registered. I've discovered that I can do it myself for far less but wanted to know how complicated it is.

There was a very good piece about this on one of the Martin Lewis programmes a few months back. If you do it before there is urgent need it is supposed to be much cheaper and less complicated so your costs sound very high , Shirley. I have spoken to o.h. and his son about it due to oh's memory problems getting worse. He must be concerned himself as he has promised he will see the doctor after our holiday.

Claire I hope you can sort it out yourself.

Anything to make life less difficult in times of worry and ill health has to be worth doing.

Lizx

There's no rush Liz but Mum is now in her 80's so it seems like a good time to look ahead. IF we'd been wise then we'd have done on her when we did Dad's as that was only about £100.

I'll have a look on the Martin Lewis website and see if there's anything there.

Thanks for your help.

Hi Claire,

I noticed this site on the internet for Free Power of Attorney. Hope it helps in some way.

GP

http://www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/power-of-attorney-form/?loc=GB&pid=msnppc-pwratt_gb-Main_a1-msnkey_power%20of%20attourney&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/power-of-attorney-fees

The form also explains how and when to pay the fees.

This page is also available in Welsh :-D

Daughter & OH did it themselves for his Mum & said not difficult.

We've just done it for Mum - awaiting the final documents as there is about a 3-month backlog for registration. The registration fee is a set charge (£110 I think) and the solicitors fees have been estimated at £500-£600 although Mum hasn't had the bill yet! Procedure very straightforward. We did consider doing it ourselves but Mum was happy to pay the fees. It is a nightmare if you have to get power of attorney when the applicant is not 'capable' to understand - can involve court hearings and lots of expense, so good to do it early :-)

Just done it with my mum with a solicitor not sure of the break down now but something like £300 + for fees and ?£150 reg. fees. Needs to be worded right if using more than 1 attorney. I was just going to do it but it was explained if anything happened to me no one else could take it over. So my husband is named as well both jointly and singly. If just done jointly and anything happens to one it cannot be taken over by the other person. Hope that makes sense

Can't help re diy and costs, but one thing worth considering.

Include a relative who is a lot younger than the other Attorneys, eg an adult child. That way if the person expecting to handle all the affairs becomes ill or frail, the younger person can take over.

Admittedly before the EPOA came into being, when we arranged a POA for my parents we named my daughter along with myself. Although a solicitor did the paper work, we didn't actually have to register them when the time came - all the organisations accepted certified copies.

One thing which came as a surprise, was being approached by the DWP. Someone had been to see my Dad and had realised he wasn't quite all there.
They arranged to visit me and took details of the POA even though I hadn't needed to 'use it' at that point. As they had my name as his Representative, they were willing to deal with me when he was no longer capable of communicating. This was only to tell them he had moved into residential care!

I'm an only child having PoA on Mum so it's sounds if it's pretty straight forward. Think I'll have a go myself with a bit of input from my daughter.

Many thanks for your help

If she agrees, have your daughter as a second Attorney. As long as you stay fit and healthy, she won't need to get involved.

However, as long as every organisation knows that she has the authority, if necessary she can pick up the reins. No one plans to be ill, but we never know what life will throw at us!

It is worth trying to do the form yourself (not that I have done so. If you do find it is very complicated you can always consult a solicitor. We know how important it is to our cost as we left it too late for my mother in law and she wouldn't/ couldn't sign the forms and so we were in the process of making her a ward of court when she passed away. Just trying and failing to get a power of attorney cost over £1000. If someone cannot sign documents and doesn't have a power of attorney you have no alternative but to make them a ward of court which is an extremely costly route.

On the advice of our solicitor our daughter is down as second attorney so if I am unable to carry out the POA then she steps in

Thanks that's something worth considering, I'll speak to Mum

EPOA is infinite, POA is finite. Worth investigating maybe.

We have just done both of them, there are two types, the property and financial affairs one and the health one. Look at the government website for detailed information.
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

You can do it yourself as long as things are uncomplicated and you follow the instructions exactly. In the past I have applied for various allowances for my parents and filled in the forms myself but this looked more complicated, so we decided to have it done for us.

I got a quote from the local solicitor who did our wills, but it was far more expensive than doing it through Saga. They passed us on to a law firm who do them for them. They sent a preliminary form with very detailed instructions which we filled in, they then filled in the official forms for us. These were then sent out with sticky labels showing us where to sign. You need various witnesses but they talk you through it. You can phone them at any time to get help.

Even if you do it yourself there is a set fee for registering it of £110.

I would make sure that you do nominate someone younger as a replacement attorney to step in if you become incapacitated. If you don't and anything were to happen to you, your mothers LPA would be invalid and she would have to pay all over again

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/overview

If you leave it too late for someone who does not have the mental capacity the courts will have to step in, this is very expensive and you have to pay every year

OH and I are each others attorney with our children jointly stepping in when anything happens to one of us.

You can get a exception with the costs if you get certain benefits.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/245523/LPA120_Fees_exemptions_remissions.pdf

My daughter was telling me about this the other week. I had a quick look but put it to one side because of the costs. This thread has made me look again and found the exception bit so that will definatly help us.

Anne

We've said in the past we ought to do this for ourselves now as it will only get more expensive in the future and although we are only in our 60s you never know what the future may hold, so thanks for the reminder. :-)

Well the memory clinic hubby was referred to after his diagnoses asked if we had thought of doing it. ,and said it would be better sooner rather than later whilst he still had 99% of his faculties

Said if we had to go to court later if he was deemed not able it would cost loads more cash and hassle

We only did the financial one as we have separate bank accounts and ISA ,s etc

I am his carer so am consulted in his health plans and treatments

It may well come to me having to help him soon as he struggles with memory for pin nos and being able to sign his name