[Enduring] power of attorney or not?

C

ClubMan

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Apologies for yet another [E]POA thread but none of the existing ones seem to address my query.

My mother is still compos mentis although some cognitive degeneration has been diagnosed and she recently took up residence in a nursing home. She can still make decisions but has asked me to take care of household finances, bank accounts etc. which I have been doing for the past few years for her anyway. Most things are on direct debit so there's not much to do there really. It is unlikely that her house would need to be sold any time soon. The family/my siblings are on good terms and nobody has a problem with me fulfilling this role.

Is there any overriding need for an [E]POA in this situation or should things change (e.g. she ceases to be compos mentis)? Are there any significant pros/cons here?

Thanks
 
If it were me I would organise it now and forget about it until such a time as it may be needed. We did it when my dad went to a nursing home. While I had power of attorney to carry out his affairs my understanding was that if he became non compis mentis that power of attorney ceased, and enduring power of attorney would need to be activated. Who knows how things may change between siblings as time goes on. It's best to have all eventualities covered legally now while your mother fully understands. We didn't need the enduring power of attorney in the end but it was peace of mind that all was legally in order if we did.
 
Thanks @Marsha25.
I appreciate what you're saying but I still don't know what the main disadvantages might be of NOT putting a POA and/or EPOA in place.
And to be honest (and I'm sure the lawyers will be on my back for this) I/we don't really want to spend c. €2K+ on this unless absolutely necessary.

(Why is life so ridiculously bureaucratically complicated - and expensive? cf. also my pension related threads...)
 
Absolutely do it now and without delay. The alternative is potentially having to go down the ward of court route in the future. We are in this unfortunate position and are waiting more that 18 months for a hearing at this stage. Meanwhile, bills etc are mounting up and nothing can be done about them.
 
Thanks @Andarma but again I don't see why [E]POA is an absolute necessity. I have the wherewithal to pay bills etc as things stand and even if mammy goes senile I don't see how that changes things if we just deal with this within the family (let's assume that there's no falling out at any stage for simplicity because that's the most likely scenario - I know, I know - famous last words and all that...). I'm sure that I'm being very (too?) simplistic but there's a lot to be said for simplicity...
 
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Opening a joint account with your mother, would give you more flexibility, and wouldn't require POA or EPOA. It will also show the level of trust and love your siblings have for you, if they agree to it !. If your mother is in the Fair Deal scheme don't liquidate her PPR or you will increase her contribution to her care by 7.5% of the net proceeds, per annum until she reaches the minimum threshold of about €35k (from memory) below which she doesn't make that contribution.

E&OE as its a few years since I was in a similar situation with my late mother.
 
Thanks again @. But, in practice, even if she does go senile who, in practice, is going to prevent me from managing her accounts and paying bills etc?

Thanks for the joint account suggestion @demoivre. Fair Deal is another thing that I'm trying to deal with right now. The PPR will not be sold and she will be paying full whack from savings for the first three years before she qualifies for any subvention once the PPR is no longer assessed.
 
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has she given permission to access her bank a/c at the moment. In my family we have 2 of these set up and we will only trigger them if needed.
 
I think that there may be other things apart from paying bills which you might need to consider. A tax return might one and, for example, a specific legal issue has arisen in my family which is proving hard to resolve because we don't have power of attorney.

Also, can I respectfully ask that you not use the term 'gaga' or the like. It's derogatory and upsetting for those of us dealing with these very real issues.
 
I'll second the 'get it done now' advice.

You've no idea how or at what speed things are going to change; but you can be 100% certain things will change.

When that happens, it will make it much easier to help look after your parent and their various affairs with the EPOA in place & registered.
 
I went through this phase for about 10 years with my mother. I basically had online banking set up through her so I could pay bills - payments and the like were easy. I had full backing of my siblings, all nine of them (yes really) and even prior to her death I transfered money for funeral costs into another account. The advantage of banking today is there is a full audit trail. When I actually brought up the subject of POA with the (family) solicitor he basically advised me it was probably not necessary. I should point out during this time I paid all utilities and sent a letter to them signed by my mother allowing me to deal with her account. None had a problem is talking to me about these affairs although I didn't inform the bank as I didn't want them to be alerted in any way. Her only real asset was the house and that was only ever going to get sold after her death.
 
john luc said:
has she given permission to access her bank a/c at the moment.
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You mean me? Yes, I have full access to her accounts although only online since the banks would not deal with me under data protection regulations.
In my family we have 2 of these set up and we will only trigger them if needed.
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Two of what? EPOA? Why two? One for each parent or something?
 
She's unlikely to have to make a tax return.
Also can I respectfully ask that you not use the term 'gaga' or the like. It's derogatory and upsetting for those of us dealing with these very real issues.
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Sorry.
 
Thanks. But again nobody has explained why it's necessary over the current ad hoc arrangement. Her medical/cognitive situation is likely to change but her financial/legal situation is not in any relevant way as far as I can see...
 
Thanks @elcato. Our situation sounds very similar and that's why I'm not seeing any practical reason for an [E]POA. I'm also named as an authorized contact on domestic bills etc. but not with the bank. But I do almost of her stuff online anyway add it's more convenient.
 
This is really a decision to be made by your mother.

If she trusts that in the event of further cognitive impairment, her wishes would be carried out without dissention by her family, then an enduring power of attorney is probably unnecessary.

However, sometimes people in your mother’s situation feel that it is better to entrust matters to one or two people rather than involving the entire family.
 
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