Suem, I can see you're trying to compromise and achieve some kind of peace wuth your stepsons, and good for you, but I have to say what you propose sounds unworkable. It's hard enough managing an EPA with joint attorneys when they're all pulling in same direction, since every single peice of paper needs to be signed by all of them AND they all have to agree. If, on the other hand, you're suggesting that a new epa that would have each of you as attorneys able to act "jointly and severally", I'm not sure how much help that would be. I mean to say, I can definitely see some point in having an EPA drawn up in such a way that if you were unable to fulfill the duty, your stepsons would then perform that duty (my own mother's EPA is drawn up so that if I get run over by a bus, my husband can take over), but would that satisfy them? Actually all sorts of restrictions can be placed in an EPA: it could be written so that (for example) property can't be sold without the agreement of all attorneys, or any transfer of more than a certain amount of money needs to be agreed by all attorneys (stupidly in my opinion, the guradianship site give an example of £1000 which is under half of my mother's monthly nursing home bill, so it seems a trifle unrealistic to me).
Depending on how the "new" EPA is written, and if it is one of the more basic ones, which effectively acts as a regular POA as soon as it is signed, your stepsons will be able to access your joint accounts in the same way as your husband would be able to do if he were well: from the banks point of view they ARE your husband. Do you know if they have done anything with it yet - i.e. have they presented it to the bank? Because if they haven't you need to set up a new account on Monday before they have the opportunity to do so. If they have, I think you may be stymied unless you present the bank with an even newer EPA signed by your husband.
Have you seen a copy of the new EPA incidentally? Because it is possible to write one that does NOT revoke an existing one: essentially it explicily needs to contain language that revokes previous EPAs and with this sloppy a solicitor, it may not. In fact to be fair, becasue of this need this may be why the soliciitor had no problem with drawing up another one: they aren't like wills in this respect. The basic downloadable one from the guardianship website does not, for example, contain the necessary language. In fact, in theory, to revoke an EPA you need to execute a deed of revocation, AND existing attorneys need to be notified of that fact. Has this happened? If there has been no deed of revocation or equivalent, you are in the unenviable position of having multiple potentially legal EPAs in existence. So if you manage to get another EPA drawn up by your husband and signed, bear in mind the need for the deed of revocation.
I have to say, though I agree with Bruce's earlier post: if he doesn't really understand what he's signing, the EPA should have been registered.
Jennifer