Power of attorney

Hello Diane 76

Thank you for your question – the process for doing a Power of Attorney differs depending on which part of the UK you are based in.  For the purposes of this response, I will assume you are based in England or Wales and you can find further information about it on the government website.

To summarise how a Power of Attorney is made, the person appointing the attorney can go to a solicitor to ask them to arrange it. Accordingly, this means there will be solicitor fees to pay on top of the registration fees (currently £82 for each type applied for) but it can be reassuring to get formal legal assistance with the process. 

Or it can be done either by post or online via the government website without a solicitor. In England and Wales, there are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), one is for Property and Financial Affairs and the other covers Health and Personal Welfare and you can opt to take out one or both depending on the situation.

The person requiring an attorney needs to have the mental capacity to appoint someone and understand the implications of arranging the LPA. Because of this, an independent person needs to certify that they have known the person for at least two years and that the person is not under duress from anyone else as part of the application process.

Please be aware that it can take some time for the application to be agreed, usually a number of weeks, and sometimes longer if there are any problems on the application. This means that for someone in very poor health, there may not be time to get the LPA in place before it is too late.

You can get further information on the whole process from the Office of the Public Guardian. Their telephone number is 0300 456 0300.

If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, please feel free to call the Financial Guides and we can run through the process for the area in which you live.

If timescale is an issue for you, there are some temporary or short term alternatives for you to consider.

Firstly, there is the ordinary Power of Attorney where someone is permitted to manage a person’s financial affairs over the short term, such as when they’re in hospital. This can be arranged either through a solicitor, or with an ordinary power of attorney document available from a law stationer (some high street stationers also stock these).

You could also consider a third party mandate with the bank. This is where the account holder arranges with their bank to accept instructions made on their behalf by someone else. The account remains in the account holder’s name but a third party will be able to make withdrawals, write cheques and carry out other transactions in their name. Please note this arrangement ceases if the account holder loses mental capacity or dies. Not all banks allow third party mandates so check with the bank concerned first.

Alternatively, the account could be made joint. This could be done by adding a second person to an existing single account, or by opening a new joint account. If the account holder loses mental capacity or dies, the joint account holder can continue to run the account.

As you can see there’s a lot to consider, so we’d be happy to discuss this further with you if you wish. The Financial Guides are available Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm on 0808 808 0000, Option 1, then 2, then 1 again. We’re also available on webchat here -  click ‘Chat to Us’ at the bottom right of the screen.

I hope this has been useful.

Kind regards.

Julia

Financial Guide

Remember you can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or by email.

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