Power of attorney system for elderly criticised

Those who are planning to make a will have been told that legal experts have criticised the financial arrangements put into place for the elderly.

The Daily Telegraph reported a group of lawyers believe banks are failing to sort older people's financial affairs in a sensitive manner and are not listening to instructions regarding power of attorney.

"We are seeing huge numbers of problems. The banks' processes simply don't work when it comes to dealing with vulnerable customers and powers of attorney. They are obsessed with departmentalisation, which is fine for simple banking but completely breaks down for anything else," Caroline Bielanska said.

Ms Bielanska said that different departments did not communicate with one another, which then caused difficulties with older customers.

The news source pointed out some banks demanded that account holders in their later years should inform them when they made certain transactions and others would not let an internet bank account be operated by an attorney.

Despite this, in one recent case Zoe Berridge, a woman in North East Lincolnshire stole thousands of pounds from her elderly grandmother whom she had joint power of attorney over.


Published by Hannah Carr