I've just made Lasting POAs for myself and my husband. I was astonished at the cost. Each individual requires two, one for financial affairs and one for medical decisions. Unlike the old Enduring POA, you have to register them within 3 months of signing. The cost is £110 for each one, so £220 for each individual.
You can fill in the forms online very easily on the Office of the Public Guardian website. There is no need for involving a solicitor. I think there may be some leeway for people on low incomes to be exempted from fees.
Yes, the old EPAs were much cheaper and, fortunately, are still valid for people who got them before they were replaced by LPAs.
I've got an EPA - and because the EPAs didn't cover 'health and welfare' - I've now got a health and welfare LPA too.
My EPA and my LPA were done without the aid of a solicitor and it was reasonably easy. (I was quoted between anything between £600 and £1,050 for a solicitor to do my LPA for me and that was exclusive of the cost of registering them!*!)
It's just that with my Dad, I don't think he'll stop burying his head in the sand, unless a solicitor explains everything to him and leads him through the process; as mentioned in a previous post, he doesn't take notice of any of my advice.
I don't know exactly what his reticence is all about...maybe he doesn't trust me, even though I have never given him cause to mistrust me. But if it's because it all seems to overwhelming I though that he might prefer to have a solicitor guide him through the process.
It's also pretty awkward because I am myself housebound - sometimes bed-bound - due to my own physical disabilities and don't live near my parents, so trying to guide my Dad through any paperwork over the phone or by post would be a nightmare...particularly as he's pretty deaf and won't wear his hearing aid! He doesn't have a computer either and doesn't have the dexterity text properly and won't have a phone that's got bigger buttons so that he could text me (or anyone else for that matter). I'm sure part of it is due to denial on is part; it's taken him over two years to admit that my Mum has dementia...Up until just recently, according to him, she just had 'a few memory problems' even though she hasn't known who the Prime Minister is or what year it is for for at least 18 months).
Sorry, I shouldn't moan, but I feel better for writing/telling someone else about it - forgive me.
Thanks for your input. (I keep saying it, but this forum is indeed a wonderful thing!
)
Fielder
