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Lasting Power of Attorney


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Did not know where to ask this non boating question. Mods please move to another section if you wish.

 

As per the title, does anyone know whether it is esential to use a solicitor for a Lasting Power of Attorney.

 

Steve

 

No, just look up what to do on the web site, dont leave it too late it takes quite some to time from start to finish

 

Charles

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Please do use a solicitor.

 

A friend of mine has LPA over her autistic cousin but, because her aunt did not instruct competent legal representation, the house she left to her son, to be managed by a national charity, ended up entirely in their hands and they evicted him, soon after her death.

 

Now my friend has been fighting a doomed legal battle, to regain control of the property and her aunt's estate, to be used for his welfare.

 

It is a truly sorry tale that has left a disabled man with little or no care, after a respected charity scammed his elderly mother out his home and the money set aside for his future welfare, all because of the lack of good legal advice.

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Did not know where to ask this non boating question. Mods please move to another section if you wish.

 

As per the title, does anyone know whether it is esential to use a solicitor for a Lasting Power of Attorney.

 

Steve

No, you can download the forms and fill them in yourself, there is quite a lot of work, and you need to get witnessed signatures etc. so allow your self plenty of time.

 

You still have to pay a fee but you will save the £400 or so that a Solicitor will charge you.

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I'm following this with some interest, as it's something I'm trying to research myself.

 

May not apply to OP, but in my case, I am having extreme difficulty getting reliable advice about whether I am likely to be able to get LPA for my mum or not. She has "good days" where she certainly seems capable of understanding and making a decision, but equally "bad days", where I think it unlikely that an independent assessor might consider she would necessarily be in that position.

 

I can't believe quite how much conflicting advice I have received from several sources, including her (new) doctors surgery, a solicitor, Age UK, Social Services, etc. etc.

 

Unfortunately LPA was not something mum saw as necessary before the need for it has arisen, and I'm now struggling with the system to work out what happens next. Without it, there are issues over paying for her care. My strong advice is get the paperwork done before there is any question about "capacity", (assuming the "donor" is agreeable).

 

I have been told by a solicitor that their costs, (including the registration of the LPA, I think), could be as much as £1000. I believe if a doctor needs to assess mum's capacity, that would be an additional cost. From people's experiences, is up to £1000 reasonable, or do I need to talk to other solicitors ?

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Forms from the Office of the Public Guardian

 

http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk/

 

Clearly every case is different and some more complicated than others. My own experience was try and keep it simple, make your own judgements based on your own reserch and consult the so called "experts" as little as possible

 

Charles

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My sister and I are currently going through the process in respect of having lasting power of attorney for my father. He is 75 and perfectly well and lucid, he wanted us to get it sorted before any issues may occur. We will eventually have lasting power of attorney over his welfare as well as his finances. We are using a solicitor to ensure it is done correctly.

 

If you have any doubt then i would suggest asking a solicitor for assistance, perhaps citizens advice could assist in obtaining some 'free time' with a local solicitor.

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We started this process when my mum was fit and well, although she had been diagnosed with Dementia so all agreed would be a good course to take. Started getting the papers sorted and held by the legal peeps a number of years ago, until needed. As mum has deterorated we are now having to take more control to ensure bills are paid etc. My brother has dealt with most but says banks can be a real pain. As mum had accounts with Alliance & leicester, abbey and others we had to do paperwork for all to be joint signaturies, now santander is here having to jump through all hoops again. We are using legal professionals as want to make sure it is all ok and no future problems. Keep it simple but make sure its right, otherwise it could cost lots to rectify. I would suggest Citizens Advice who can probably point you in direction of a specialist. I know ours charges £210/hr !!!

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DO use a solicitor. I did when drawing up Power Of Attorney arrangements regarding my late father, and it all went very smoothly. The only painful bit was the realisation that this able, organised and meticulous man, who as a Headmaster and a Chief Examiner had managed hundreds of people, could now no longer manage to look after his own affairs.

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I'm following this with some interest, as it's something I'm trying to research myself.

 

May not apply to OP, but in my case, I am having extreme difficulty getting reliable advice about whether I am likely to be able to get LPA for my mum or not. She has "good days" where she certainly seems capable of understanding and making a decision, but equally "bad days", where I think it unlikely that an independent assessor might consider she would necessarily be in that position.

 

I can't believe quite how much conflicting advice I have received from several sources, including her (new) doctors surgery, a solicitor, Age UK, Social Services, etc. etc.

 

Unfortunately LPA was not something mum saw as necessary before the need for it has arisen, and I'm now struggling with the system to work out what happens next. Without it, there are issues over paying for her care. My strong advice is get the paperwork done before there is any question about "capacity", (assuming the "donor" is agreeable).

 

I have been told by a solicitor that their costs, (including the registration of the LPA, I think), could be as much as £1000. I believe if a doctor needs to assess mum's capacity, that would be an additional cost. From people's experiences, is up to £1000 reasonable, or do I need to talk to other solicitors ?

 

Alan. You do not have to use a Solicitor, or discuss it with the Doctor, all you need is a signed certificate from two people who have known your mother, as more than an aquaintance, for at least two years and who are able to confirm that she is assigning LPA without any pressure.

 

You can do it yourself using the forms from this site:- http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk/ Jan is going through the same proceedure for her Mum at the moment. I will scan a summary for you and email it to you if you send me your email address.

 

You will probably still have to pay the £120 Court fee if you do it yourslelf (Court fees can be waived if her income is £16,500 pa) but you will save the Solicitor's fees.(I hope your Solicitor is including Court Fees in the extortionate £1000 you have been quoted, (Jan was quoted £520 including the Court fee!)

Edited by David Schweizer
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DO use a solicitor. I did when drawing up Power Of Attorney arrangements regarding my late father, and it all went very smoothly. The only painful bit was the realisation that this able, organised and meticulous man, who as a Headmaster and a Chief Examiner had managed hundreds of people, could now no longer manage to look after his own affairs.

 

I also used a solicitor towards the end of my Dad's life. I was told that they had to see him in person and get his permission for the LPA to ensure that we weren't putting him under any duress or pressure to sign. He also had to be deemed fully in possession of his faculties or it would have been too late to get his informed consent. Luckily, although he had good and bad days, he was on form that day and was joking with the solicitor. We got the LPA and he died less than a month later. The LPA made life SO much easier when dealing with his affairs.

Roger

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Whilst the forms are available from charities and various other places I would recommend using a solicitor. Getting the forms is one thing and only part of the process.

Although expensive (?) to set up (£150+)it is not as expensive or stressful as sorting out the mess if it's not done properly.

I am talking from recent experience.

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I have been told by a solicitor that their costs, (including the registration of the LPA, I think), could be as much as £1000. I believe if a doctor needs to assess mum's capacity, that would be an additional cost. From people's experiences, is up to £1000 reasonable, or do I need to talk to other solicitors ?

 

Been through all of this though fortunately when it was Enduring instead of Lasting Power Of Attorney.

 

I've made several enquiries amongst my own clients who are all law firms and the general feeling is that somewhere in the region of £600-£650 is the going rate so maybe nothing wrong with making a few enquiries with other law firms in your area.

 

Use a solicitor?

 

Definitely!

 

There has been the odd case as mentioned by Carl but I think that these are the exception rather than the rule on these matters, that's not speaking as someone with a vetted interest but someone who detests the slimy so and so's.

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I am going through a slightly different process, but have used a solicitor at considerable cost. I feel confident that I could now go through this process without a solicitor, but in the first instance I wouldn't have felt confident. I am not keen on solicitors in general, but if you need to ask the question, I suspect you would be best using a solicitor.

 

Good luck, and I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

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I find it interesting that so many recommend a solicitor, fair enough each to their own and not everyone feels its for them to go along the DIY route. As I have said it was very straight forward and would recommend it for straight forward LPA and it saves the solicitors fee and a lot of bother with meetings and additional correspondence

 

The final thing to face is of course the probate that has to be dealt with in the end and again our family did not involve solicitors for the two bereavements that we faced this year. Again we found it straightforward once you understand how it all works. We saved the cost, a lot of bother and considerable time by DIY, interestingly when you deal with some of the financial institutions they are geared up to deal with the solicitors not the DIY way. Finally another area that the solicitors love to charge us for is dealing with the property disposal and we did that ourselves via the Land Registry, again its not difficult to figure out how to do it and all of the information is there on the releavant sites, but not for everyone to take this approach

 

Charles

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that's not speaking as someone with a vetted interest but someone who detests the slimy so and so's.

Me too. So much so that I have represented myself, in court (and won), and handled the conveyancing, when buying houses, myself...BUT...

 

When I'm fiddling about with other peoples' affairs and it involves their care and welfare, I would not take the risk by messing it up, with a slight slip in the wording (which is how my friend's cousin lost a £250k house and all the money to care for him, after the death of his mum).

 

At some point I will have to go through all of this with my son, who is autistic, and I won't be trusting his future to my barrack room lawyering and an internet download.

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Me too. So much so that I have represented myself, in court (and won), and handled the conveyancing, when buying houses, myself...BUT...

 

When I'm fiddling about with other peoples' affairs and it involves their care and welfare, I would not take the risk by messing it up, with a slight slip in the wording (which is how my friend's cousin lost a £250k house and all the money to care for him, after the death of his mum).

 

At some point I will have to go through all of this with my son, who is autistic, and I won't be trusting his future to my barrack room lawyering and an internet download.

That's my take on a similar situation. I am responsible for others too, and would not want to make a cock up for them.

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She has "good days" where she certainly seems capable of understanding and making a decision,.

This was exactly my situation with my mother.

 

We did not want to delay further and risk another step-change deterioration, so jumped in quick.

 

We crossed our fingers that the day when she had to sign at the Solicitors was a good day.

 

Fortunately it was so the LPA was duly signed.

 

We didn't have to activate it though, as other events intervened.

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You could sum up Carl's sentiments by saying simply that if you are confident that no-one is going to challenge your attorney then DIY is fine, but if anyone's likely to be seeking a stake in the estate that you don't expect a brief is probably the way to go.

 

Mush like a divorce or a tenancy it's a pretty straightforward process but the pitfalls should be considered.

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Please do use a solicitor.

 

A friend of mine has LPA over her autistic cousin but, because her aunt did not instruct competent legal representation, the house she left to her son, to be managed by a national charity, ended up entirely in their hands and they evicted him, soon after her death.

 

Now my friend has been fighting a doomed legal battle, to regain control of the property and her aunt's estate, to be used for his welfare.

 

It is a truly sorry tale that has left a disabled man with little or no care, after a respected charity scammed his elderly mother out his home and the money set aside for his future welfare, all because of the lack of good legal advice.

I would suggest this was bad advice to aunt on her will, not the Power of Attorney. If you lived with your mother and she left the house to a charity when she died without provision for you they would sell it under you as well. Same think can happen if you give your home away to your kids. It becomes theirs and not yours anymore

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Firstly you do NOT need a Solicitor. I did it myself without any problem, BUT it does take a long time, think several months. (another reason for not using a solicitor) Also it helps if the Donor is capable of logical thought and speech. When my Dad was aflicted with Altzimers, it would have been more difficult to get it through.

 

When My Mum saw the procedure, she suggested that I should be appointed as her attorney for if/when she suffered the same fate. That was two years ago, suddenly in the last two weeks she lost all control over her actions, luckily because the LPA was in place everything is very easy. Make sure that the bank(s) know that the LPA has been issued and get yourself appointed as an authorised signatory on the donor's account(s).

 

Also there may NOT be a fee. My mums LPA was issued with a fee concession. I forget now whether it is based on savings or income (I suspect the latter). The Office of the Public Guardian are VERY helpful if you have any difficulties.

 

Regards

 

Tony.

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