My sister and her partner are emigrating to New Zealand. Her partner went out there a few weeks ago. In order to ensure his legal and financial affairs could be easily dealt with he gave his mother power of attorney. So he gets to New Zealand and opens a bank account, then asks his mother to transfer some money from his UK bank account to his new NZ one. His mother goes to the bank to sort this out but is told that they can’t do it because they don’t know her – she’s not the account holder. But she has power of attorney. She shows them the power of attorney papers and demonstrates that all is in order legally. Nope they won’t budge. They won’t authorise the transfer. So she has an idea – can she transfer some money from her UK account to his NZ account instead? Yes, no problem. And, as power of attorney, can she transfer money from his UK account to her UK account? Yes, no problem. Ok, job done then. Seriously. I’m not making this up.
