Inheritance Tax Planning

[Triassic]

Thanks for all the interesting replies. We’ve got our wills written and a few relatives and even fewer of the two dozen god children will no doubt be pleasantly surprised when we’ve gone. Both my mother and father as still in good mental and reasonable physical health, dad has just taken delivery of a new car, he’s 89. So hopefully we’ll have plenty of time to spend the lot.

[newhome]

9 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Then it could be hellishly difficult, i am afraid if something happens.

 

 

Yep, I know that but if I broach the subject it will start an argument. I’ll ask my brother to do it then the argument is with him ?

[Onoff]

When they do totally lose it without an LPA in place then one option is a Court Order of Protection. Hellishly expensive and grief. Going through the process at the mo ref my Mum.

 

All this can be avoided by getting a £29.99 LPA pack from WH Smith whilst they're still compos mentis. What grates a bit here is we got the Smith's pack but my father brushed it off saying my barrister brother knew better / was dealing with it. Now there's a solicitor involved and it's all £££. WTF do I know I'm just "the youngest who likes playing with wires, wood and metal" ?

 

Edit: Even better, it was £9.99:

 

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/lawpack-power-of-attorney-kit/9781910143100.html

Edited October 28, 2019 by Onoff

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, newhome said:

 

Yep, I know that but if I broach the subject it will start an argument. I’ll ask my brother to do it then the argument is with him ?

 

Cheers for the reply. I may comment further a little later in general.

 

I had LPAs dinned into me by one of the most formidable individuals I have ever had the pleasure to work with but not met ... one Susanne Cameron-Blackie, aka Anna Raccoon, a lady who obtained a double first in Law in her 50s, and worked as an Investigator for the Court of Protection, then worked for their reform, and finally stood in the 2017 Election against Mr Corbyn whilst on her deathbed to highlight the £56bn (in 2016) overhang of compensation costs for medical negligence etc in the NHS. An interesting life - imo interesting is more important than famous. Who wants to be Serge Lama anyway.

 

F

 

The passage below reminds me of the  two phone calls from my local hospital I received within a day of raising the issue assuring me that as mum is assessed by the LA as self-funding, I am not entitled to any funded intermediate care from them either. (By law it is not means tested.). Run by accountants?

 

(Need to revisit that assumptions joke. The chaos was not created by an accountant, as God in his mercy had decreed that there would be no accountants. (With apologies to any self-building accountants on the forum ? ))

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Just how pressing the issue is was brought home to Susanne last month. After spending days in the cancer high-dependency unit at the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital, she had been prescribed the Fentanyl and ketamine, but an error by a nurse meant she was given a tiny dose of a much weaker drug – a prescription meant for another patient.

 

She shudders at the memory. ‘I can’t even begin to describe the pain I was in,’ she says. ‘It was a descent into hell.’ No wonder: a scan revealed that the erosion of one of her vertebrae had left her spinal cord exposed.

But for Susanne, worse was to come. ‘Excruciating as it was, the mistake was recognised and put right. But afterwards, I had a visit from someone in the hospital’s legal department. She wanted to know if had I engaged a lawyer, and was I planning to sue?

 

‘I was flabbergasted. Why? What would be the point? I know why the mistake was made: because the nurses in that unit are rushed off their feet. If I were to sue, the only thing that would change would be my husband’s bank account in several years, long after I’m gone.

 

‘If I sued, I would be taking away yet more money from the NHS, so making it more likely that a future patient would endure a similar ordeal"

Edited October 28, 2019 by Ferdinand