Power Of Attorney

[Coldicote]

If a person decides to give 'Lasting Power of Attorney' to someone else, does the person giving it lose the right to access and use their own bank account and other resources?

[Buenchico]

"Setting it up doesn’t mean you have to give up control. Usually the power of attorney will only come into force once it has been registered"

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/setting-up-a-power-of-attorney

[woofgang]

Even when its been registered, the person can still access their own money and so on, but the holder of the power of attourney is allowed to set some controls depending on the person's competence in order to stop them being scammed or otherwise cheated.

[Coldicote]

Thank you for these answers. I'm thinking it might be wise to arrange power of attorney as one get's older. but not to lose control.

[woofgang]

Coldicote, you need someone who you can trust absolutely, NOT to do what is best for you but to do what you want!

[Coldicote]

This raises another question - once registered how is it brought into operation? For instance who informs bankers and service providers? Presumably the person giving the power then has to give their personal details to those who will need to know, assuming they have the mental capacity to do so.

[boxtops]

This might help, coldicote http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/legal-issues/powers-of-attorney/

[sddsddean]

I have done PoA's for both my Mum and Mother in Law. In my Mum's case, she is absolutely fine. The PoA is there 'just in case' as it saves a monumental amount of hassle if anything should happen to her. My MiL unfortunately has dementia, so hers is 'in effect'. When you do a PoA, it costs £130 (I think) for each one (there are 2...'Property and Finance' and 'Health and Welfare'), but you can have as many attorneys as you like for the same price, so Mum has 3, MiL has 5. They can be free if you are on Income Support or similar (info in the pack from the Office of the Public Guardian).
As to setting them up, my wife is her Mums principle attorney, so had to go to the bank with the PoA and her passport (as ID). Took about an hour, but she now has a bank card and cheque book in her name with 'Power of Attorney' after it.
Martin Lewis was on Jeremy Vine (Radio 2) last week and said everyone should have a PoA. Its all well when you see something coming (like dementia), but you could be run over by a bus tomorrow and paralysed or something. If the PoA is in place, it only takes a few days to get 'power' transferred.
If you want to do one yourself, go to the Office of the Public Guardian website and order a pack (its free!) and there are a couple of 'how to fill it in' books in the pack which are actually very good. It took me about 4 hours to fill in the forms for Mum, then had to run round getting signatures from Mum, the attorneys, an independant witness (ie not a family member) and a 'person to be told'...this is a safeguard so someone can report if the think the family are forcing a PoA on a person to get control of their affairs. Its not as daunting as it all sounds!!

[dzug2]

The normal procedure is that once the PoA is registered, the Attorney takes it to the bank(s) who record it, after which the attorney can operate that bank account. The donor meanwhile can continue to operate that account - sign cheques etc - as if the PoA didn't exist. Some banks may operate restrictions - eg it may say you can't both have a debit card.

I'd take rather than send to PoA where possible - some institutions have a distressing habit of losing them and they are very difficult to replace

The difficulty comes of course when you start making irrational decisions. Legally you have right to do so - which puts your attorney in a very difficult position if you are still able to carry them out independently

[Coldicote]

Lots of helpful advice here thank you.