The Lemon Fool

My mother feels her mental capacity has now diminished to the point where she'd like me to takeover management of her finances. I am one of two attorneys, the other being my brother. Is it possible for me to manage mum's financial accounts on my own or can I only do this with cooperation from my brother? I would of course check he's happy for me to take on the responsibility on my own and keep him in the loop as significant events occur but it would be a nuisance if every transaction needed to be (somehow) effected by both of us, particularly since he lives abroad and seldom returns to the UK.

Supplementary question: Since being made an attorney my address has changed. Should I have notified the OPG? I can't see my address on any of the LPA documentation in my possession, so I guess not.

David

Not a legal answer but whatever the agreement with the brother ends up being, my approach would be to keep the brother in the loop with every decsion, no matter how banal... even if only by email each time (so YOU have a record of the info being sent).

Thus avoiding any chance of any misunderstanding and confusion in the future. CYA in other words, keeping it all open and transparent in others.

I should think that the answer must lie in the wording of the P of A?

Dod

Section 8 of the LPA sets out the legal rights and duties of the Attorney. There is nothing there to say that multiple attorneys can only act jointly.

When I did a LPA with my brother the online form clearly asked whether we wished to act jointly or separately, and that was recorded on the printed record. The OP needs to read their LPA.

We need to know from the OP whether this is an EPA dating from before the introduction of LPAs or if it is in fact an LPA. The OP mentions capacity - has the donor actually lost capacity (for the purposes of the decisions being considered)? If so (and if it's an EPA), the EPA must now be registered.

Dod101 wrote:I should think that the answer must lie in the wording of the P of A?

Makes sense. Surprisingly, I don't have a copy (just a LPA 004 from the OPG with a case number and very scant information). Requesting a copy of the actual LPA from my mum now. Hopefully it will provide the answer.

didds wrote: ... my approach would be to keep the brother in the loop with every decsion, no matter how banal... even if only by email each time (so YOU have a record of the info being sent).

That sounds like a top tip, didds - I shall follow that advice.

Thanks, all.

chas49 wrote:We need to know from the OP whether this is an EPA dating from before the introduction of LPAs or if it is in fact an LPA. The OP mentions capacity - has the donor actually lost capacity (for the purposes of the decisions being considered)? If so (and if it's an EPA), the EPA must now be registered.

Definitely LPA (from 2011). Donor has not lost capacity.

For financial LPAs, the donor and the attorneys can all manage finances at the same time, you don't need to demonstrate loss of capacity as you do with a health LPA. For many organisations you can go through security and get them to note in their files that A agrees that B can act on their behalf without even waving a LPA. As I live with Mum I just get her to quaver the answers to security questions down the phone, and then agree I should take over the call. Online, no-one knows I'm not her.

JohnB wrote:When I did a LPA with my brother the online form clearly asked whether we wished to act jointly or separately, and that was recorded on the printed record. The OP needs to read their LPA.

Yes, when I was appointing attorneys to act for me (EPA if that makes a difference) my solicitor specifically asked me if I wanted each attorney to be able to act independently, or whether they could only act together. I chose the former and that was reflected in the wording of the document.

Which only leaves the question of what the situation is if the EPA/LPA is silent on that matter, i.e. is there a default?

Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney ...

If there’s more than one attorney

If you’re appointing more than one person, you must decide if they’ll make decisions:

separately or together - sometimes called ‘jointly and severally’ - which means attorneys can make decisions on their own or with other attorneys
together - sometimes called ‘jointly’ - which means all the attorneys have to agree on the decision

You can also choose to let them make some decisions ‘jointly’, and others ‘jointly and severally’.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/choose

Lootman wrote:

JohnB wrote:When I did a LPA with my brother the online form clearly asked whether we wished to act jointly or separately, and that was recorded on the printed record. The OP needs to read their LPA.

Yes, when I was appointing attorneys to act for me (EPA if that makes a difference) my solicitor specifically asked me if I wanted each attorney to be able to act independently, or whether they could only act together. I chose the former and that was reflected in the wording of the document.

Which only leaves the question of what the situation is if the EPA/LPA is silent on that matter, i.e. is there a default?

The default on the LPA I did for my mum is Jointly. We had to specifically state "Jointly and severally"

--kiloran

The one I did the 2nd attorney was an 'alternate', ie she only took over if the first attorney (me) could no longer act.

freewheeler wrote:Is it possible for me to manage mum's financial accounts on my own or can I only do this with cooperation from my brother?

If your LPA dates from 2011 you need to look at section 4 on page 5. This is headed: "How you want your attorneys to make decisions".

There are three tick box options - "jointly", "jointly and severally", and "jointly for some decisions, jointly and severally for other decisions".

Check which of the boxes has been ticked. It will almost certainly be the jointly and severally one, which means that you can deal with everything without needing to involve your brother (though, as has been said, you should obviously tell him what's going on).

Supplementary question: Since being made an attorney my address has changed. Should I have notified the OPG? I can't see my address on any of the LPA documentation in my possession, so I guess not.

You can simply notify the OPG of your new address either by writing to them or over the phone.