Power of Attorney Safeguards

[meggle]

What safeguards are there to prevent a person with power of attorney simply helping themselve to the donor's assets? A member of my mother-in-law's (MiL's) church is seeking a PoA from my MiL and my wife has some concerns. It's not practial for my wife, her brother, or me to have PoA as we live too far away to discharge those duties properly. I'm not sure just how compis mentis my MiL is either and whether she fully understands what a PoA is. Also, can a person with PoA charge for their services?

[meggle]

A booklet on PoAs from Age UK (https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalasset...torney_inf.pdf) states -

"While a non-professional attorney, such as a family member, can only claim expenses in their role (for example, travel costs), a professional attorney can also charge for their time. It’s important to consider costs carefully before you decide."

but doesn't indicate how "professional attorney" is defined. I presume soliiticitors and qualified accountants could be professional attorneys but is there an official definition?

[ULA]

Not sure if this will help you

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...de-web-version

[meggle]

Thanks, that's very helpful although it still doesn't tell me how "professional attorney" is defined.

[Matty B]

My understanding as lay person, is that should someone have POA they will have to be able to justify where the money went - so if they were t0 siphon it off into their own account they would still have to show it was spent on the owner if the assets. If not this could be fraud. As the Age UK also says, should a third party worry that the person with authority is abusing their position there are processes in places.

I do think you are right to be concerned. In my own family, my elder sister has some sort of power of attorney for Mum who is still very much on the ball. I am lucky in that we trust each other and actually, when it was all set up, my position was difficult and while I would have done it, maybe at the time I lacked the capacity or resilience to do it.

[ULA]

The information under summary sets out some information on fee-paid professional attorneys.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...de-web-version