power of attorney advice please

[saintpeter48]

nursing staff have asked me to obtain power of attorney for my elderly uncle, he never married, has np children and only has 2 even older brothers, both in their 90s. he has little money, under £5000, no property or anything of value. I am the only one who visits him and i am listed as his next of kin. My question is this, is it easy to get power of attorney and how can I go about it. thankyou for any help.

[mxyzptlk]

Talk to a solicitor. Should be fairly straight forward

[237SJ]

Lawpack have a power of attorney pack you can buy in Staples which is a do it yourself version. I bought one but haven`t needed it. It seemed to explains things fairly clearly though.

[dzug2]

How easy it is depends on his mental capability - if he's capable you just download a form from the OPG website, fill it in and get it registered. Fee is £120 but if he is on low income this may be reduced or waived. A solicitor may charge the same again on top. In this case he is giving you power of attorney - so he has to know what he is doing and this has to be verified independently though not necessarily professionally.

If he's lost capability, then it's rather more difficult and expensive. You need Deputyship rather than Power of Attorney. There won't be much change out of £1000 - more if a solicitor is involved, and perhaps a greater need for one. In this case you are being given powers by the court.

[bednobs]

have to agree and add you can't just "obtain" power of attourney; he has to give it to you, so he has to agree. there are two types protery and affairs (money) and personal welfare (decisions about care etc). I was under the impression it costs £150 to register each one. It often takes a while to register them (think in terms of weeks/months rather than days)

[dzug2]

The fee used to be £150 - it's been reduced

[bednobs]

wow! That makes a change. I've been waiting to register mine - do you reckon there's any chance they might reduce it even further?

[dzug2]

Unlikely

They did (and this is hearsay) slightly reduce the service as well - I understand you can no longer get free additional certified copies of the PoA

[crystalbee27]

@ dzug - this is not true - you can obtain power of attorney for someone with dementia - my SO has just done it for his mother-you need a doctors certificate and have to apply to the courts -it took him quite a while and with court fees. doctoors fees and solicitors it cost 600 pounds. The power of attourney gives the right to pay bills, take pension payments and dispose of property should the need arise - ( we needed it to sell some property she owned to pay for care home fees) if your uncle is in care and incapable of signing cheques etc this is why they will want you to get power of Attourney - it is not thier place to ask really - go see (or Phone) a solicitor.

[dzug2]

If what he has is a Lasting Power of Attorney then either someone has lied on the application form or his dementia was not considered bad enough to prevent the mother signing the form herself in the knowledge of what she was doing.

If the dementia was bad then he has not got a lasting power of attorney, but has been appointed as Deputy by the Court of Protection. The effect is the same, but they are very different things

I'm a bit surprised it was only £600 though if it is Deputy

[crystalbee27]

@DZUG - him and his brother and sister share lasting power of attourney for his mothers quite considerable estate. She was deemed no longer fit to run her own affairs by her GP and then an independant consultant. Deputy was never mentioned in any paperwork and the legal documentsw make reference to Power of Attorney -believe me no one lied on the documents lol! are you inferring that someone passed a backhander to the doctor lol! All I know is that everything that needs signing to do with her personal financial needs requires the three signatures before fiunds can be released.

[dzug2]

She would have had to sign the Power of Attorney or stated verbally in the presence of two independent witnesses that she wished to sign but was unable to.

The doctor and independent consultant would have had to sign a declaration that

I certify that in my opinion, at the time when the donor is making this LPA, that:
the donor understands the purpose of this LPA and the scope of the authority under it;
no fraud or undue pressure is being used to induce the donor to create this LPA; and
there is nothing else that would prevent this LPA being created.

She might well have been unable to run her own affairs - but has to have been sufficiently in touch with reality to understand the purpose of the LPA.

[saintpeter48]

my uncle is capable and knows what he's doing, he is very ill though and i have been told to expect the worse, days rather that weeks. he has no property or nothing of any value, just about £4000 which is just his pension going in every week. he has no one else, apart from two frail elder brothers. is it worth getting power of attorney considering he hasn't got long left and the small value of his estate. thanks again for any help.

[Buenchico]

An important link:
http://www.publicguar...rms/Making-an-LPA.htm

Chris

[bednobs]

hi saint peter. In my opinion, getting an LPA doesn't seem worth it if the circumstances are as you describe. There wont be time, and it will cease to be valid upon his death anyway. If he still has mental capacity, he could probably do his own banking with your help (ie give you his cashpoint card to get money out for him)

[crystalbee27]

@dzug <sigh> I know what happened -this is a recent event sorted within the last 6 months. You stated in a post <If he's lost capability, then it's rather more difficult and expensive. You need Deputyship rather than Power of Attorney.> Capability is not subjective and needs to be supported by medical evidence following strict rules. As dementia (alzheimers) is a progressive condition it depends at what point the power of attourney is applied for, but Power of Attorney CAN be granted for persons with dementia.

[bednobs]

hi CB. having dementia dosen't necassarily mean you have lost capacity - you can have variable periods of lucidity. it sounds to me that the doctors certificate was to say that she had capacity at that moment when it was discussed and she agreed to give POA to the people, so in effect it was just a POA as anyone else with mental capacity would have given.

[bednobs]

And now i have written all that i realise that both you and dzug said that a few posts ago, sorry :)

[dzug2]

Saintpeter48 - if it's days rather than weeks then there is no time to get PoA. It takes at least a month