Power Of Attorney

[Impret-Sir]

Hi all
I want to set up a power of attorney for my elderly parents. My question is, can I set one up for them as a couple, or do I have to do one separately for each of them? I have done this before, but just for my aunt on her own. It would save me a lot of time and money if I could do it for them as a couple.

[TrevorThePug]

You will need a DPOA for each individual.

[bhg481]

It's very easy to do it yourself which, in itself, will save you a lot of money. You can do it a bit at a time, saving as you go along, and then just send it off when you've finished.

[Cloverjo]

Hope you don’t mind me jumping on your thread, Impret-Sir.

My dad wants to set me up as a POA. He is about to pay a solicitor £600 to do it to ‘save me any hassle’.
Is it really that easy to DIY? I just told him about the cheaper way online, but he isn’t convinced.

[237SJ]

Cloverjo - I did a power of attorney for my Mum online. It was quite simple and it cost peanuts.

[bhg481]

My wife and I did POAs ourselves - it's easy. Just try it. It costs nothing and you can give up if you feel it's too much for you. Just download the form and work your way through it, stopping and saving whenever you like; you can take days over it. You don't pay any money until you send it off so it's completely FREE to try yourself.

[JoolsTwo]

Where would I find the forms on-line? We are about to set one up for for us, naming our 2 children. Would we need one for each each of us for each of our children?

[237SJ]

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-public-guardian

[JoolsTwo]

Thank you for that.

[bednobs]

hi impret-sir
Your parents would have to set it up, not you. You cant take power but they can give it

[woofgang]

bednobs is right but if they would find it too much then you can of course sit with them and do it with them.

[Vagus]

We’re going to do ours in the next couple of months, it will be a weight off my mind, well, both our minds to be honest.
Thanks for the reminder.

[knockavacca]

nobody mentioned that you have to make 2 one for health and the other for finance,and as regards to costing peanuts i did it myself 8/9 years ago and it cost approx £500 no solicitor involved

[bhg481]

How much does a Power of Attorney cost?
There's a compulsory cost of £82 to register a Power of Attorney (in England and Wales – it's £81 in Scotland, £151 in Northern Ireland). If you earn less than £12,000/year though, you can provide evidence to have a reduced fee of £41. Those on certain benefits are exempt from fees.

It's £82 each for the property and finance LPA and the health and welfare LPA, so if you get both, that's £164.

Can I suggest you read what the Moneysavingexpert has to say about them:

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

[barry1010]

Very straightforward to DIY. https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

[barry1010]

You don't have to do both, it depends on your own circumstances.

[barry1010]

If you do decide to do it yourself make sure you are logging in to the official government website - there are lots of 'lookie likies' that are trying to make money out of you.

[Impret-Sir]

Thanks everyone for your answers. I have done it myself for my aunt a few years ago, so I know that that is possible, and basically quite straightforward to do it yourself, I fully intend to do it myself this time, but I still think the cost to register it is a bit expensive, (hardly peanuts!), so I would have preferred to do one for my folks as a couple, but I suspected that would not be possible. Bednobs, whilst of course in principal you are correct, in reality I will be doing all the form filling and getting the documents registered, my parents will just be signing their consent. for anyone planning to do it in the near future, I will warn you, when I set one up for my aunt it took 13 weeks for the "Office of the public guardian" to process the paperwork and send it back to me, so dont hang about if you want it soonish!

[barry1010]

It takes that long if you pay a professional to do it. And rightly so, it is a very serious matter that should not be undertaken lightly

[bednobs]

in my opinion, if you are worried about costs, the by far sensiblest thing to do is to complete the forms but not register them. Firstly they may never be needed. Secondly when it comes to property and affairs, most organisations will wait for payments of things if you explain the delay to them (while you wait circa 3 months to get it registered) Thirdly, for the health and welfare one, you already have the person's wishes written down. Docotrs will not offer a POA anything t hey would not have offered the person themselves, and even with a POA, you can't insist treatment is carried out