Poa

[rosyposy]

Can anyone tell me how much work is involved when it is time to invoke the power of attorney please? A friend of mine is just starting to do this and says it is a bit of a nightmare. Up to now he seems to have had to print out over twenty forms or letters to various organisations. I thought once the POA had been registered it would be pretty much plain sailing. About how long might it take?

[ladybirder]

Unfortunately there are plenty of organisations out there that don't seem to even know what a POA is let alone how to deal with them. I sympathise, it can b a nightmare.

[chrissa1]

We did this for my late Father in Law and used a solicitor. He did all the work. I know it costs money but maybe, easier in the long run.

[rosyposy]

Thank you both for replying, I had no idea it would be so involved -rosy

[sddsddean]

I've done PoA's for both my mother and mother in law and once you get your head round them, its actually fairly easy. First, apply for the forms from the Office of the Public Guardian. They send out everything for free and saves you having to do loads of printing (though you may have to do extra copies of forms). There are 2 PoA's. s. Property and Finance, and Health and Welfare. Both are pretty descriptive and apart from one page in the H&W one (about turning off life support) the forms are almost identical, so if you fill in one, you can more or less copy it for the other. Each PoA costs £130, but you can get them for free if you are on Income Support or some other benefit (claim form included in pack). Just because you do a PoA, doesn't mean you have to use it. It is just there 'just in case'. I think everyone should have one! You will need names of Attorneys (usually family members. You can have as many as you like for the £130 fee. Mum has 3, MiL has 5), an independant witness (ie not a family member, but can be a friend) and a 'person to be informed' (usually a friend who can inform Office of the Public Guardian if they think the person is being forced into a PoA...just a saftey net. This is a different person to the witness). The pack comes with 'how to fill it in' books which are actually very good. I did my Mums(both P&F and H&W) in about 4 hours (lots of repititious form filling) then you just have to get signatures off everyone. Its not as bad as it first looks! Good luck!

[ladybirder]

I didn't find it difficult to DO it. It's getting some organisations' employees to even know what it is. We even had an employee at a bank who had never heard of such a thing.

[sddsddean]

Ah yes, I know what you mean. My wife normally goes to the bank (or whatever) and does sometimes find it hard to convince 'the staff' what she is allowed to do with the PoA, but gets it sorted in the end.

[Dee-M-See]

Sorry to be a Jonah, but if you think POA is troublesome wait until you go for Probate, that's if you have to, I took the more easier option but more expensive way of doing it, and used a Lawyer
Good Luck anyway hope it all goes well for you

[rosyposy]

Thank you all for your replies. I have actually done them (two) myself and didn't find it difficult once I got my head round it, just a bit time consuming.I was just surprised when my friend said it was a nightmare to invoke as I assumed filling them in would take the most time and effort but that doesn't seem to be the case. Thanks again -rosy

[dzug2]

If the donor had dealings with 20 organisations then those 20 organisations have to know a PoA is in place - not sure how you think that could be avoided. The OPG won't inform them - you have to.

It will take as long as the organisations take to respond - some will be virtually by return others may take weeks

[ladyalex]

If you use a POA, you have to register it in some way with the institution that you are using it with. (Banks, Building Societies, Insurance Companies, HMRC etc etc). The first time you use it with each institution you have to register it, then after that it should be plain sailing.

[rosyposy]

Thank you for the replies -hope it is a long time before they will be used anyway. :0)