18/06/2026
Should your child be your power of attorney? It sounds sensible. Afterall, if something happened, who better than one of your children to step in and make decisions?
The bank will let them withdraw money...
Move money between accounts.
Renew insurance policies.
Speak to them if there’s a problem
Instead of refusing to speak to them at all.
Same goes for all the utilities…
Gas.
Electric.
Broadband.
Water.
Council Tax.
They’ll all talk to your child when they’re a named Attorney.
Your child will be able to sign paperwork.
Speak to pension providers about when and what to draw.
Doctors.
Hospital.
Prescriptions.
Care providers.
Opticians.
Dentists.
They’ll all talk to your child when they’re a named Attorney.
But you know all that…
You know they can make the decisions when they’re a named Attorney.
But YOU can’t.
If your husband or wife lost mental capacity tomorrow…
And you don’t…
And you’re not a named Attorney
You would not be able to do any of those things for them.
Not one.
Because being married doesn’t give you any legal authority to act on their behalf.
So when you’re the one sitting in the hospital corridor as doctors talk through what happens next, you can’t act for them.
When you’re the one trying to keep normal life moving whilst the person you love suddenly can’t, you can’t act for them.
You can’t cancel their mobile phone contract.
You can’t make payments using their card.
You probably couldn’t even cancel their hair appointment.
You become a bystander.
Watching from the sidelines.
Unless…
You’re named as the first Attorney.
And your child is named as a reserve.
And you won’t find yourself trying to deal with everything if your other half can’t, whilst everyone from the postman to the doctor's surgery refuses to even talk to you.
