A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a special document where the donor (the person making the LPA) gives legal authority to an attorney to do things on his behalf after he has lost capacity.
This contrasts with an ordinary power of attorney which is no longer valid once capacity is lost.
The Office of the Public guardian (OPG) provides a special form which must be used in every case. In fact there are two types of LPA, once which deals with Health and Welfare and the other with Property and Financial Affairs.
In each case the donor appoints one of more attorneys and one or more replacement attorneys. He can limit the powers of the attorneys and can dictate if they can act separately or whether all must act together.
He can also offer guidance in the exercise of their power.
The donor can then choose 1-5 people to be notified on Registration of the Lasting Power of Attorney which can act as a safeguard in case the document is registered prematurely.
The donor signs Part 1 of the form and this must be witnessed by someone not mentioned in the LPA.
The next step is that a ‘certificate provider’ must verify the capacity and proper intention of the donor in Part 2 of the LPA form. Normally this is a professional such as a doctor, solicitor or barrister, but it can be someone who has known the donor well for at least a couple of years. NB. If no person is to be notified there must be two certificate providers. Again this is a safeguard to help avoid someone being pressured into doing an LPA when they may not have a real intention to do it and then find it is registered without reference to anyone.
The attorney or attorney and any replacement attorney must all complete a part 3 form and have it witnessed by someone not mentioned in the LPA.
When this is done, all the parts of the form must be sent of together for registration to the OPG, and any notification requirements carried out.
The registration fee for an LPA is currently £130 but it can be reduced to £65 if the income of the donor is less than £12,000 per annum.
There is normally a delay of 10-13 weeks but this can vary and the delay may be getting longer.
If there are any errors on the Lasting Power of attorney form it is likely to be rejected. If you resubmit an application within 3 months the fee will be £65 instead of £130. Apart from the bother of having to do it again if someone is close to losing capacity this delay caused by a rejection could be critical, as it would be impossible to submit a fresh application if the donor has since lost capacity.
The only answer then is to make an application to the Court of Protection to have a deputy appointed. Unfortunately this is slow and can be very expensive and in the meantime all accounts bearing the name of that person will be frozen. That includes joint accounts.
Owing to the relative difficulty of completing the forms correctly in every detail and the potential cost, delay and risk in getting it wrong many people opt for professional help with their Lasting Power of Attorney application.