Lasting Power of Attorney: Get It Sorted

[Guest]

Without writing an epic post, just thought it was worth highlighting how important it is to sit down with your family and talk about arranging a Lasting Power of Attorney. I'm now into my third year of stress and hassle because an elderly relative refused to agree to an LPA arrangement before his health deteriorated and he went into a dementia nursing home.

Once he'd been discharged from hospital lacking mental capacity, it was too late for an LPA to be formalised.

Instead, I had to apply to the Court of Protection for Deputyship (Guardianship in Scotland, but it seems to be equally as onerous upon the applicant). It's obviously set up to protect the afflicted individual but places various liabilities upon the applicant, which in my case I could not afford to take on.

With an LPA in place I could have arranged settlement of his outstanding debts, and sold his house to secure his finances and pay for the £50,000 plus in care-home fees that he's run up. .Instead, it's three years down the line, bailiffs have been involved and I've had to get a solicitor to be appointed by the Court instead. 

People think nothing of making a Will for when they snuff it, but not an LPA in case they become incapacitated, temporarily or permanently. It really is worth the extra couple of hundred quid, you can get it all agreed now when you're all fit and well, then keep it in a drawer just in case it's ever needed. 

I'm not savvy enough to post links but there's plenty of information online. I'd recommend anyone to spend a few minutes reading up, then having a conversation with their family. 

  

Edited January 7, 2023 by IncomingExile

[philpy]

Heating on full blast, windows down.

[RH33]

When mum and dad were down recently I was saying they should get this set up soon with my sister. Sister's up that way so makes.more sense she holds it.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Madame RH33 said:

When mum and dad were down recently I was saying they should get this set up soon with my sister. Sister's up that way so makes.more sense she holds it.

I'd definitely recommend it, even such a mundane thing as getting final bills settled was a nightmare, never mind the more important stuff.

[TxRover]

2 hours ago, IncomingExile said:

I'm not savvy enough to post links but there's plenty of information online. I'd recommend anyone to spend a few minutes reading up, then having a conversation with their family. 

  

Here’s a pretty useful summary from .gov.uk:

https://www.gov.uk/lasting-power-attorney-duties

Here’s the (shorter ) more Scottish version:

https://www.mygov.scot/power-of-attorney

And a more in depth one:

https://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/faqs

 

Note an English/Welsh LPA can generally be valid in Scotland, but an attorney is recommended to review and possibly tweak it…saw applies in reverse.

There are free online versions, but you know what they say, you get what you pay for.

[TxRover]

2 minutes ago, IncomingExile said:

I'd definitely recommend it, even such a mundane thing as getting final bills settled was a nightmare, never mind the more important stuff.

Different country, similar issues. A neighbor died suddenly just before he got married, with no will or power of attorney. His fiancée was in the situation where she legally couldn’t make the house or auto payments, and had to work with the banks to ensure a smooth repossession of both and would have been left with nothing if his family hadn’t been kind enough to give her his estate…of course, she got taxed on it as a gift too! He was 32.

You need both a will and a LPA/PoA!

[Guest]

Nice one. I seem to have trouble copying links on this laptop. 

 

[Dundee Hibernian]

Simple query, is LPA the England/Wales version of PoA in Scotland?

[Guest]

Just now, TxRover said:

Different country, similar issues. A neighbor died suddenly just before he got married, with no will or power of attorney. His fiancée was in the situation where she legally couldn’t make the house or auto payments, and had to work with the banks to ensure a smooth repossession of both and would have been left with nothing if his family hadn’t been kind enough to give her his estate…of course, she got taxed on it as a gift too! He was 32.

You need both a will and a LPA/PoA!

What a terrible situation. 

[Thane of Cawdor]

Should note that (at least in England), Powers of Attorney can cover separate aspects of daily life i) Property and Financial Affairs and ii) Health and Welfare.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, Thane of Cawdor said:

Should note that (at least in England), Powers of Attorney can cover separate aspects of daily life i) Property and Financial Affairs and ii) Health and Welfare.

Same in Scotland.

[TxRover]

33 minutes ago, IncomingExile said:

What a terrible situation. 

It was horrific to see. Poor lassie had to park his Jeep in the garage and schedule a time for them to repossess it. She was bawling her eyes out when she had to open up the garage and pull it out for them, but at least the repo company guy was understanding, and not some power mad c**t! The moving out was almost as bad.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Dundee Hibernian said:

Simple query, is LPA the England/Wales version of PoA in Scotland?

Wish I could be definitive but I am not a lawyer, Dundee Hibernian. TxRover's links above will help. 

From what I gather it's Continuous Power of Attorney in Scotland, and doubtless there will be some legal differences but they would have the same aims. 

There is a difference in E/W between Power of Attorney (ceases when the person no longer has mental capacity) and Lasting Power of Attorney which still applies after that stage. Both versions, however, can only be set up whilst the person has mental capacity, it can't be done afterwards, which is where the Deputyship nightmare began in my relative's case.

I knew nothing about this until it was far too late,  it's the Deputyship (Guardianship) situation that everyone really needs to avoid in the first place, by having LPA/CPA in place. I just thought I'd throw a comment up on here in case it helped someone avoid the situation I was left with, it helped a mate who was able to put things in place when his father took ill (RIP Bob). 

   

[Kamenitza]

2 hours ago, Madame RH33 said:

When mum and dad were down recently I was saying they should get this set up soon with my sister. Sister's up that way so makes.more sense she holds it.

Might be better to get a joint one, just in case. You probably trust your sister but....

My brother -in -law set up an EPA (predecessor of LPA )with him as sole attorney for mother -in - law and registered it in 2009 without telling any other family member. About 4-5 years ago he began ripping the piss out of it and has so far helped himself to about 50 grand. Complaint to OPG resulted in them sending someone to visit mother-in-law - they assessed her as 'mentally competent' so everything is fine as far as they are concerned. In fact the OPG made it worse because now MiL thinks they assessed her because we were saying she wasn't mentally competent. 

 

In response to Dundee Hibernian -  I think that PoA is a generic term and LPA denotes the specific type.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

If it matters to you, it matters to Digby Brown.

[parsforlife]

3 hours ago, Madame RH33 said:

When mum and dad were down recently I was saying they should get this set up soon with my sister. Sister's up that way so makes.more sense she holds it.

I think you can both hold it?   Certainly my dad has said if he ever loses his shit he's set things up so any of us can step in and take control.

[ICTChris]

As stated previously, when I die I want all my possessions sold and the proceeds used to buy gold and jewels which will be placed inside my coffin. Then, when archeologists dig me up in 2000 years there will think I was a powerful chief or war lord.

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

Was lucky, mother agreed to it, before she went totally confused, through dementia.

What a horrendous illness it is.

Terrible.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Bigmouth Strikes Again

[vikingTON]

5 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

As stated previously, when I die I want all my possessions sold and the proceeds used to buy gold and jewels which will be placed inside my coffin. Then, when archeologists dig me up in 2000 years there will think I was a powerful chief or war lord.

Try swapping some jewels out for random objects, and future generations will be duped into thinking that possession of nail clippers and a soup ladle were markers of high status in the 20s Before Nuclear Catastrophe. 

[alta-pete]

And where is @tamthebam please?