Don't Bank On It.
What a bloody palaver! I've finally got back the Power Of Attorney from the Office Of The Public Guardian. This has taken weeks & weeks.
A bit of background - POA gives you the legal right to take control of someones finances etc if you believe they are no longer capable of doing it themselves. That said person needed to have signed a POA in the first place (when they weren't barking mad) and when you as an "attorney" decide the time is right, you have to cough up £125 so some court or other in Birmingham to "register" (ie turn on) the POA.
I went to Mom's bank today.
"Hello, I want to register this POA on my Mom's account, I'm here but the other attorney is in Brazil at the moment."
"What's that then?"
"Um, it's a Power Of Attorney?"
"Oh, I'll get someone else"
Eventually they find Gundip (nice bloke, has a degree from Liverpool Uni it turns out) who starts the ball rolling. "Question One: Are all attorneys present? [ ] Yes, [X] No, if Yes goto Q3, if No goto Q2"
At about Question 26 the logic gets a bit squiffy because it can't cope with two powers of attorney on the document, one of whom isn't present, but the original POA states "Jointly and Severally" - ie I can act alone and/or with or without the other attorney. (I didn't follow that either, and I was there).
He calls his colleague "Peter" who checks all the entries and whose head promptly explodes when he reaches Question 26 too - "Have all agreed to act as attorneys?". "We can't answer that" he said, "didn't you say that the other attorney is in Brazil?"
"Why is that a problem? I'll just ring her and get her to speak to you and she can say "yes" over the phone."
That threw them completely. There wasn't check box for "Other attorney has agreed but isn't present".
A bit of background - POA gives you the legal right to take control of someones finances etc if you believe they are no longer capable of doing it themselves. That said person needed to have signed a POA in the first place (when they weren't barking mad) and when you as an "attorney" decide the time is right, you have to cough up £125 so some court or other in Birmingham to "register" (ie turn on) the POA.
I went to Mom's bank today.
"Hello, I want to register this POA on my Mom's account, I'm here but the other attorney is in Brazil at the moment."
"What's that then?"
"Um, it's a Power Of Attorney?"
"Oh, I'll get someone else"
Eventually they find Gundip (nice bloke, has a degree from Liverpool Uni it turns out) who starts the ball rolling. "Question One: Are all attorneys present? [ ] Yes, [X] No, if Yes goto Q3, if No goto Q2"
At about Question 26 the logic gets a bit squiffy because it can't cope with two powers of attorney on the document, one of whom isn't present, but the original POA states "Jointly and Severally" - ie I can act alone and/or with or without the other attorney. (I didn't follow that either, and I was there).
He calls his colleague "Peter" who checks all the entries and whose head promptly explodes when he reaches Question 26 too - "Have all agreed to act as attorneys?". "We can't answer that" he said, "didn't you say that the other attorney is in Brazil?"
"Why is that a problem? I'll just ring her and get her to speak to you and she can say "yes" over the phone."
That threw them completely. There wasn't check box for "Other attorney has agreed but isn't present".
Comments