Lasting Power Of Attorney

[west ham fan]

Hi my father has just gone into a nursing homeactually on Christmas eve following 3 months in hospital, he has to give up his council house, I have attempted to cancel his direct debits to the utilities company's but his bank will not allow me to do this as it is in my fathers name, they have told me I need to get lasting power of attorney, my father is terminally ill, he is unlikely to survive the 10 weeks that I have been told it will take to obtain the LPA, he is also suffering with dementia so is realy not capable of understanding what is going on. My question is, is there an alternative to LPA so that I could at least stop the DD's and of course when the time comes to be able to get access to his funeral account. regards WHF

[factor-fiction]

I am not sure there is much you can do, but is there any urgency to cancel his direct debits since his pension will presumably continue to go into his account to fund these payments, and any overpayments can be sorted out a later date

[factor-fiction]

Hi- I have just realised that in giving the answer I omitted to sympathise with you and wish him well

[woofgang]

So sorry for the sad situation that you are in. Presumably you have confirmation from the council that he has vacated the house? Armed with this and final meter readings, I would try contacting the utilities concerned, they all have bereavement departments and will be able to tell you if they can do anything, under the circs, you may need confirmation from the doctor or the hospital.
Once your Dad has passed, then you can get access to his account(s) and will be able to deal with the utilities companies and claim any refunds due.
If he has got dementia, you won't be able to get an LPA in any case.
Oh dear, such a difficult and sad time of year.....

[bhg481]

I have total sympathy with you since I've been there myself, albeit 40 years ago when banks had their own manager who knew his customers. I was lucky in that the family had banked at the same bank since God was a lad and the manager let me organise my mother's affairs informally, she being too far down the dementia road to be able to do LPA at age 63.
The best advice I can give you is to organise LPA to allow your children to look after your affairs should you ever get into your father's position, so that they don't have the problems you're having. It's easy to do yourself for £140 and very flexible in that you can let each person act for you individually or they all have to agree.
Have a look at this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/power-of-attorney

then, when your dad is sorted, you can save your children a lot of hassle.

[MargoTester]

I too am really sorry to hear of your problems, and my OH and I have already sorted out LPA for ourselves. I am not sure if FF is correct about your father's pension though I know that when my Mum had a stroke and was in hospital for several months they stopped her pension - all but a small amount of pocket money. If you Dad is in a council funded home I would check this out.

[TWR]

Hi W.H.F. I am going through this at this time with myMother, I down loaded the COP ( Court of Protection form off the net) believe me it is one sod of a job, every single detail has to be right including, Full Stops etc ( I am not joking) I have just received the Order Of Protection from the Law Courts of London at a cost of £400s is to investigate my Mothers affairs, I would seek advice from a Solicitor W.H.F, the cost to get them to sort it is around £1000 + this can be refunded at a later date when you have P.O.A. at that stage you can open a bank account in your name as you are dealing with your Fathers Affairs, make sure you get receipts for everything, get your self a accounts book, make sure you duplicate everything in case this is needed for your own protection, If you want the form, Google COP If I can give you further help Ask, but don't go ahead with this form unless you are very very sure you know what you intend to do, it's a pain I can assure you.

[factor-fiction]

When I was in a fairly similar position with my grandmother (although in her case dementia hadn't been diagnosed I used to type letters for her and she would sign them. Is it possible for you and her to do this with a letter to the utilities companies?
Also, I am not sure how his council tenancy was ended as presumably his authority was needed to stop the rent DD or cancel the tenancy.

[factor-fiction]

^ I am just talking about letters to people like insurance companies and utility companies. I realise that a bank would not allow someone to do transactions on his behalf

[TWR]

I should have added, Stop everything within you Fathers House & check the readings, Gas / Elec / contact BT If he had a phone, & note down everything & take the persons name you are talking to & their position, contact Number / Department, this is not a very nice thing to do W.H.F. But it has to be done to safe guard yourself.

[TonyV]

I would agree with TWR advice to keep a copy of everything

[TWR]

That does not work F.F. been there.

[factor-fiction]

Well it worked for us. Why wouldn't it work, TWR?

[TWR]

When I contacted the Bank, DWP, Insurance, you name it, the first thing they ask have I POA at that time I had not, I had to get a letter from her GP at the Nursing Home at a cost of £90 to say she had Dementia, this letter I copied a few times for different company's etc, when I had the P.O. From the London courts it was Court Stamped, they sent me 5 copies.

[TWR]

To add, It's all to do with the Data Protection a F.F. each place I contacted said the same thing, sorry we can not help you with your enquire due to this Data Protection Act which is right, but when you are only trying to protect your own Mother / Father it get stupid.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks TWR, My situation was perhaps different as there was no dementia diagnosed at the time and no reason for utility companies etc to challenge a signed request from the customer., whereas in your case you seemed to be trying to act for her because she had dementia

[TWR]

Another way to sort out the Issue W.H.F. If money is short with yourself, Contact the Nursing Home Manager state your case & ask them to apply for P.O.A. whatever then happenes they can recoup what's owing to them.

[TWR]

There was an Issue with one member of our family ripping my Mother off F.F. I contacted the Local Police they said to me, have I got proof! I did not at that time but now I have, but I had to see him steal off her, how's that for a son? there are some evil Basds out there, but I put paid to one of them. x

[dzug2]

Given that the father has dementia and not capable of understanding what is going on then no one but no one can get Power of Attorney since that has to be given rather than taken.

The alternative procedure is to apply to the Court of Protection to become a Deputy - which is alas an even more long drawn out process than LPoA.

[bednobs]

Hi WHF, i sympathise with your situation.
In your position (not know ing all the details of course) i would be inclined to do the following.
1) get the meter readings and inform the utility companies directly of termination of service
2) don't worry about anything else money wise - if he only has a short time to live you can usually hold off creditors and sort everything else out after the death (or let the executor sort everything out)