Power of Attorney

[Sarah17]

Hello everyone.

I've just joined Talking Point after my 75 year old husband has been diagnosed with mixed dementia (Alzheimers and Vascula). We visited the Memory Clinic earlier today and I was told to take out Lasting Power of Attorney for him. Can anyone advise or point me in the right direction please.

Do I get the forms and fill them in myself or hire a solicitor to do this. Also does anyone know how much it might cost and how long it takes.

Thank you

 

[Kevinl]

Hi Sarah, welcome to TP
We were discussing this yesterday, below is a link to the thread so you can see what has been said about cost and the solicitor's possible costs.
K

https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/solicitors-fees-for-lpa.104644/

 

[Sarah17]

Thank you Kevini. Its taken me ages to reply to you but I think I've got the hang o

f it now

 

[Kevinl]

No problem, if you go to the link below then halfway down you can download the LPA forms them either fill them in or decide to do it on line. It's very straight forward, mainly just a matter of filling in names and addresses, you need one for health and welfare and one for finance.
The thing people do get hung up over is the "certificate provider", people think this has to be a doctor or lawyer both of whom will charge for the service. But the notes say that;
"Who can be a certificate provider?
A certificate provider must be at least 18 years old and either:

• a friend, colleague or someone you’ve known well for at least two years – they must be more than just an acquaintance
  
• your doctor or lawyer or someone with the professional skills to judge whether you understand what you’re doing and are not being forced to make an LPA"

So the first suggested people are friends and colleagues after that they suggest doctors or lawyers. Print the forms off and if there's anything you don't understand then ask but the notes supplied with the form are pretty easy to follow.
K
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-lasting-power

 

[Everton Annie]

It's a really sensible step to take @Sarah17 . I could not persuade my husband to sign an lpa and now he doesn't have capacity and it makes life a tad more difficult with social services making best interest decisions for him. Good luck

 

[jugglingmum]

The one thing I missed was putting in a replacement attorney. I have LPA for my mum, jointly with my brother, although we can both act separately, and I wish that there had been a replacement attorney for both of us should we become unable to act, my brother suffers from depression and I don't think he'd be able to act on his own if it came to it, but that is now how it stands.

 

[Sarah17]

Thank you all for your help. I will download the LPA forms and have a look at them

 

[Shedrech]

hi Sarah17
just to agree with jugglingmum, worth having 2 Attorneys to act jointly and severally plus a named replacement
and arrange POA for finance & property AND POA for health & welfare
plus maybe checking that wills are up to date
then you're pretty much covered for legal issues
best wishes

 

[Annypurple]

Hello everyone.

I've just joined Talking Point after my 75 year old husband has been diagnosed with mixed dementia (Alzheimers and Vascula). We visited the Memory Clinic earlier today and I was told to take out Lasting Power of Attorney for him. Can anyone advise or point me in the right direction please.

Do I get the forms and fill them in myself or hire a solicitor to do this. Also does anyone know how much it might cost and how long it takes.

Thank you

Hello and welcome to TP. I have done both the Health and Welfare and the Financial on line, using the government website which is really easy - I asked my solicitor to look over it before I finally registered it just to make sure it was OK but I didn't want to pay the full fee as I knew I wanted to keep both really simple and straightforward. It's really important to do both of these whilst your OH has capacity to sign - having these papers has helped enormously as everyone needs to see I have LPA for my OH's affairs as I have taken over EVERYTHING now as his dementia has progressed such that he can't do anything and is in a nursing home.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

 

[Sarah17]

That sounds like a good idea to get it checked over by a solicitor, because I want to make sure there wont be any problems with it in the future. Good advice, thank you Annypurple

 

[Amy in the US]

If I understand correctly (and someone in the UK please correct me if I'm wrong), Age UK can also assist you in filling out the forms.

 

[Beate]

If you have a solicitor already and he charges a nominal fee for "checking it over", fine, otherwise it would make much more sense to ask one of the many charities to help you with this for free - Alzheimer's Society, Age UK, CAB or your local Carers Centre all have knowledgeable people in this field. Don't go throwing good money after bad.

 

[Sarah17]

Sound sense, I want to hang on to what money I've got

I've filled in the forms online, adding another attorney plus a replacement attorney, and printed them, so will probably go along to Alzheimers Society or Age UK for them to check. I found the Government Website quite easy to understand and use. Seems as though solicitiors charge the earth just for filling in forms for you

 

[Baker17]

Hi, you can get help to fill out the forms if you are not confident of downloading them yourself either age uk or a local carers group will do it for you and it's not as expensive as going to a solicitor, it's important that you do while he still has capacity, hope you get things sorted as I didn't get it done in time and am now battling with social services and another family member about my choice of care for my husband something which adds to an already stressful situation

 

[gemspurplecat]

Hi Everton Annie,
My husband has Alzheimer’s, we went to the solicitors for LPA , my husband became objectionable, and the solicitor said she would have to write to his memory consultant about his capacity, (this cost £300) His consultant gave the go ahead to the solicitor that my husband had capacity. Returning to the solicitor, my husband became objectionable again, so was not allowed to sign. The next route for me is to apply for court of Protection which will cost £2,500 if I go through the solicitor. I’m at a loss what to do next ?

 

[Kevinl]

Hi Everton Annie,
My husband has Alzheimer’s, we went to the solicitors for LPA , my husband became objectionable, and the solicitor said she would have to write to his memory consultant about his capacity, (this cost £300) His consultant gave the go ahead to the solicitor that my husband had capacity. Returning to the solicitor, my husband became objectionable again, so was not allowed to sign. The next route for me is to apply for court of Protection which will cost £2,500 if I go through the solicitor. I’m at a loss what to do next ?

Download the forms, fill them in yourself and get a family friend to sign as the certificate provider, now while he still has capacity. You, or your solicitor have a letter from the consultant saying he has capacity so do it now. There's a link below to download the forms health and welfare and financial. It's very simple to fill in, mainly just names and addresses and a few boxes to tick. Any problems ask the AZ society, CAB or AgeUK or a similar organisation.
You won't believe how easy it is to do.
K

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-lasting-power

 

[Everton Annie]

Download the forms, fill them in yourself and get a family friend to sign as the certificate provider, now while he still has capacity. You, or your solicitor have a letter from the consultant saying he has capacity so do it now. There's a link below to download the forms health and welfare and financial. It's very simple to fill in, mainly just names and addresses and a few boxes to tick. Any problems ask the AZ society, CAB or AgeUK or a similar organisation.
You won't believe how easy it is to do.
K

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/make-lasting-power

@gemspurplecat if your husband will sign it then do it as @Kevinl has suggested. I had done mine online before they changed about 18 months ago, printed it, had witnesses ready and my husband refused to sign. Too late for me now but, as Kevin says, you have a letter saying he has capacity so act quickly.

 

[Aisling]

Enduring power of attorney cost me almost 2000 euro in Ireland. Aisling

 

[Rosettastone57]

Hi Everton Annie,
My husband has Alzheimer’s, we went to the solicitors for LPA , my husband became objectionable, and the solicitor said she would have to write to his memory consultant about his capacity, (this cost £300) His consultant gave the go ahead to the solicitor that my husband had capacity. Returning to the solicitor, my husband became objectionable again, so was not allowed to sign. The next route for me is to apply for court of Protection which will cost £2,500 if I go through the solicitor. I’m at a loss what to do next ?

My husband and I used a neighbour as certificate provider for mother in law. We knew she would never have agreed to anything from a professional. Over a period of several weeks we had meetings with MIL and trusted neighbour to talk about general things gradually introducing the idea of POA. The neighbour had been primed beforehand about what we wanted to do. She spoke about her own experience with poa with her own children reinforcing the positive to MIL. Eventually MIL agreed to sign.

 

[callydrew]

Hello everyone.

I've just joined Talking Point after my 75 year old husband has been diagnosed with mixed dementia (Alzheimers and Vascula). We visited the Memory Clinic earlier today and I was told to take out Lasting Power of Attorney for him. Can anyone advise or point me in the right direction please.

Do I get the forms and fill them in myself or hire a solicitor to do this. Also does anyone know how much it might cost and how long it takes.

Thank you

Hi, my oh was diagnosed 18 months ago and the first thing I did was contact our solicitor and have now organised a Power of Attorney. If you have a solicitor they will guide you through the procedure (although it is not cheap) but it does give you peace of mind.