an old lady friend of ours has just been told by her solicitor that if she reaches a state where she incapable of making decisions for herself and cannot look after herself, that social services can sell her property and put her in a home if she hasn,t nominated someone as her power of attorney. The solicitor says this will cost her a thousand pounds. I thought you could just nominate someone yourself without having to pay a solicitor.she has alread made a will and has 2 executors.
you DON'T have to use a solicitor to appoint power of attourney, however, you can't just "nominate" someone - there are plenty of forms to be filled in and then you have to pay £150 to register the POA witht he court of protection. It has nothing to do with wills
Lasting Power of Attorney is important and comes in two parts. One covers financial decisions and the other welfare/medical issues. A realistic cost should be nearer £400-500 for the two.