Do I need Power of Attorney for my child?

Milliemoo

Hi everybody, my name is Toni and we have a beautiful daughter Millie who has just turned 18, she has Phelan McDermid Syndrome, diagnosed at 14 months, non verbal, still in nappies walks a little but does use a wheelchair, severe learning difficulties. Went to her christmas party at school and a parent mentioned Power of Attorney!!!!! omg, help please, didnt even think of it, did some research and we have to go through court because she has no mental capacity, has anybody else had to do this, we will have to pay £400 per application, we need the two, thats £800!!!!! plus other costs annually, we are on a low income and im terrified that we will no longer be "in charge" of our daughter if anything were t happen.

Sam_Alumni

Hi @Milliemoo welcome to the community.

I hope you can get some more information from others soon.  @Scope_rosie or @DebbieVoakes can you help?

There are some useful websites here:

http://www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/money/power-of-attorney-poa

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/Pages/lasting-power-of-attorney.aspx

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

[Deleted User]

Hey @Milliemoo

Depends on whether your daughter is judged to have capacity.   Very crudely put, PoA is the 'giving' of power, Deputyship is the 'taking'.  Power to make decisions can only be freely 'given' by those who have the capacity to understand what that means.  

If your daughter has capacity then PoA is a much more straightforward option, but if not then yes, you'll need to pursue a deputyship and the costs jump up quite a bit. 

There are two types of deputy; financial affairs, and health & welfare. You can apply to be one, the other, or both.


For financial deputyship, you can factor in the costs of becoming a deputy into the person's finances so you aren't short yourself, but for welfare you can't do this (although once you're a deputy, you can reclaim ongoing costs back).

There are charges yes. but there is often help for people on low incomes, and you don't need to go through a solicitor to get one (as you can apply to the court of protection directly).

If you did want to use a solicitor though, pick one with experience in this type of issue (law society homepage - right hand side - has a database you can search) and be aware that most decent solicitors will do you a free consultation (30mins-1hr is usual) so if they start charging before you've sat down, walk away.  

Alternatively, you could try the citizen's advice bureau locally to you to see if they could lend a hand with the paperwork.  Also some carers' centres can help with this kind of thing.

Hope this is useful. 

-R

OlliHannah

Hi @Milliemoo

I work as an Information & Advice Worker for Scope and know that Mencap run free information seminars about wills & trusts and planning for the future which other parents have found useful and which you may want to consider.

They are run by solicitors and held in lots of different areas. The following link gives dates/locations:

https://www.mencap.org.uk/PFTF

Good luck with it

Olli