Quick power of attorney question

[philv]

Power of attorneys being set up for my dad.
Mum is the attorney.
My sister and i are replacement attorneys.

If my mum dies, my sister and i become the attorneys.

Question -
My sister and i will 100% definitely have to act Jointly?
Ie it is definitely the default?

Edited by philv on Monday 13th June 17:05

[Simpo Two]

I can't answer the question but it's always advisable to check things after you've posted them...!

[philv]

Simpo Two said:

I can't answer the question but it's always advisable to check things after you've posted them...!

Good point. Thanks!

[TooMany2cvs]

philv said:

Power of attorneys being set up for my dad.
Mum is the attorney.
My sister and i are replacement attorneys.

If my mum dies, my sister and i become the attorneys.

Question -
My sister and i will 100% definitely have to act Jointly?
Ie it is definitely the default?

Depends what's been put on the form. You need to tick a box (p4 of the form) to say if they should be joint and several or just joint.

[Ozzie Osmond]

philv said:

Will my sister and I 100% definitely have to act Jointly?

Depends what the document says.

If more than one attorney is appointed to deal with the same issue, they must act jointly unless the power of attorney states they do not need to.

A donor can appoint just one attorney, or more than one attorney, to act:
• "jointly" – they must always make decisions together
• "jointly and severally" – they have to make some decisions together and some individually
• "jointly" on some matters, and "jointly and severally" on others

Someone might appoint attorneys to act jointly when making decisions over their money, but state that only one attorney, acting independently (or severally), should decide where the person should live.

The person has the right to say the attorneys must act jointly on all their affairs.

[philv]

TooMany2cvs said:

Depends what's been put on the form. You need to tick a box (p4 of the form) to say if they should be joint and several or just joint.

On that section we have ticked the box that says there is only one attorney. Then it says to go to the next section, which is replacement attorneys.
So, it would appear that choice of how to act is only for the initial attorneys and not the replacement attorneys.

For replacement attorneys it says replacement attorneys would usually act jointly.
I don't like the word usually.
So I want to make sure that it is jointly unless explicitly written on a continuation sheet.

I find it slightly ambiguous for something that could be a very big deal or problem.

[philv]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Depends what the document says.

If more than one attorney is appointed to deal with the same issue, they must act jointly unless the power of attorney states they do not need to.

A donor can appoint just one attorney, or more than one attorney, to act:
• "jointly" – they must always make decisions together
• "jointly and severally" – they have to make some decisions together and some individually
• "jointly" on some matters, and "jointly and severally" on others

Someone might appoint attorneys to act jointly when making decisions over their money, but state that only one attorney, acting independently (or severally), should decide where the person should live.

The person has the right to say the attorneys must act jointly on all their affairs.

I want to make sure it is set up so that the replacement attorneys act jointly.
This is essential after a family rift.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Then make sure it says "jointly".