Power of attorney
What’s a power of attorney (POA)?
A power of attorney is a legal document that allows someone else to make legal or financial decisions for you. If you've set up an attorney who acts on health and welfare decisions, they can't make property or financial decisions for you.
The person authorising another person to act on their behalf is known as the donor. This will be you – the account holder and our member. An attorney acts on behalf of the donor.
While you still have mental capacity you can register a new power of attorney document with the Office of Public Guardian (OPG) with your wishes for what the attorney should do. A power of attorney ends when the donor passes away.
How to set up a power of attorney with us
To add a POA to your account(s), you’ll need:
- A completed addition of an attorney/deputy application form. You’ll tell us in the application form when you want the attorney to act on your behalf.
- Original or certified copies of ID documents for both the donor and attorney.
In branch
Make an appointment in branch to set up your power of attorney for all non-online accounts.
For online accounts, we can only discuss your power of attorney application, but we can send your documents to Customer Support and they'll set it up for you.
By post
Send the documents to Customer Support, Leeds Building Society, 26 Sovereign Street, Leeds LS1 4BJ. It’s better to send certified copies of your ID documents in case they get lost.
If you’d like us to post a copy of the form to you, or if you have any questions, call us on 03450 505 075.
Attorneys
You can appoint more than one attorney. Multiple attorneys can act jointly or jointly and severally.
Jointly
When attorneys are appointed jointly, they must all agree on every decision made. If one attorney disagrees with a decision, it can’t be made.
If a POA document says all attorneys act jointly, all attorneys need to sign the addition of an attorney/deputy form.
Jointly and severally
Attorneys can make decisions on their own or jointly with the other attorneys. You can let us know which decisions need approval from all attorneys, and which they can make on their own.
Restrictions
Additional restrictions
You can set up additional restrictions for your attorney to follow which will be shown on your power of attorney document.
Online restrictions
You can open an online savings account yourself, but to add the attorney onto the account they'll need to complete the addition of an attorney/deputy application form.
You and your attorney(s) can't use or manage your account online once they've been added to it, but it can still be viewed. All other transactions need to be done by post.
You can't make cash or cheque payments from or into your online savings account, but you can make your first deposit into a new online account with a cheque.
