Enduring Power of Attorney in Action
In the July Newsletter I received a question about Enduring Power of Attorney. I answered in a one-liner and a promise to explain more - this blog fulfils my promise, but will need a part two I feel.
The question I received was:
“I need to register an Enduring Power of Attorney - how do I do it?”
I will begin by re-capping what an Enduring Power of Attorney is, then explain this in more detail than my Newsletter allowed. Next, I will describe my experience so far on registering an Enduring Power of Attorney and I’ll close with a call to action. If you are short on time – skip to the end, it’s an important message to hear and share.
What is an Enduring Power of Attorney?
An Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document that enables a person to appoint a person (or people) to manage financial matters for them. The person making the Enduring Power of Attorney is called a donor and the person (or people) appointed are called attorneys.
If the donor becomes unable to make financial decisions independently, the Enduring Power of Attorney must be registered. This applies before the Enduring Power of Attorney can be used and, if it is already in use, before it can be continued.
You cannot make a new Enduring Power of Attorney, but those made before October 2007, either registered or unregistered, can still be used.
Enduring Powers of Attorney were superseded following implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which introduced Lasting Powers of Attorney and relate to Health and Welfare as well as Property and Finance.
I have explained more about Lasting Power of Attorney in relation to Enduring Power of Attorney in an earlier blog, What is an Enduring Power of Attorney and do I need one if I have a Lasting Power of Attorney?
How do I register an Enduring Power of Attorney?
I mentioned above, if a donor becomes unable to make decisions (loses appropriate mental capacity), then a pre-existing Enduring Power of Attorney will need to be registered before it can be used.
Step 1
To register an Enduring Power of Attorney you will need to firstly notify relevant people. This means the donor and at least three of their relatives. Each person must be provided with an EP1PG which looks like this:
Form EP1PG
The Office of the Public Guardian provide guidance on who you need to contact and in what order.
Step 2
You now need to submit an application to register the Enduring Power of Attorney via an EP2PG which looks like this:
Form EP2PG
The application should be sent to the Office of the Public Guardian after the relevant notifications in step 1 have taken place and should include:
· The completed EP2PG
· The original Enduring Power of Attorney document
· The registration fee
The address to send documents to is:
Office of the Public Guardian
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH
My experience in registering an Enduring Power of Attorney
So far so good, now the reality. Compared to completing Lasting Power of Attorney forms on line, Enduring Power of Attorney forms are a completely different beast. You have the option to print and complete by hand or add to the .pdf.
You may find that there is not enough space for all you need to write on the EP2PG if you have more than three attorneys, and, unlike Lasting Power of Attorney, there is no continuation form. I called the Office of the Public Guardian for advice and was told to hand write in bank spaces of the form. Similarly, the EP1PG allows for just two attorney names, meaning I had to hand write three attorneys in the margins on each EP1PG (that meant x 4)
You are required to know when the Enduring Power of Attorney was originally signed (and this will be prior to 2007). You will also need to know when the EP1PG forms were received by the donor and relevant relatives.
In part seven of the EP2PG, you are required to name all the relatives notified. There is space for up to five relatives here and part twelve of the form enables you to add more.
Administration wise, I had to obtain names and addresses of the five attorneys, write two of these in free text in the margins, before requesting from my client relative manes in the correct order. Numbers here may blur, but I am sure you get the gist.
I can only describe the process as incredibly “clunky” with the format of the forms, and very labour-intensive in collating the information. I found the entire process very time consuming and not intuitive.
To give guidance for my client, I wrote detailed instructions with clear actions lists.
For transparency, this was the first time I have been asked to register an Enduring Power of Attorney and I accept my lack of experience. My client was aware of this, but still wished me to proceed having fallen at an early administrative hurdle when trying to register the Enduring Power of Attorney themselves.
If you are imagining a complex mix of names, process and dates, add to the mix that this will often be happening at a time when the Enduring Power of Attorney is desperately needed. The donor has lost capacity, the family need to access funds to support care for example.
In this particular case, a Lasting Power of Attorney could not be created as the donor no longer had capacity.
You will no doubt sense my frustration at the process and complexity, particularly when I compare to Property and Finance Lasting Power of Attorney which can be set up, registered and good to go in a crisis. You have the option of deciding if the Property and Finance Lasting Power of Attorney can become effective on registration or loss of capacity – either would have saved the hoops and time my client had to manoeuvre in the registration of the Enduring Power of Attorney.
Call to action
If you know someone with an Enduring Power of Attorney and they still have an Enduring Power of Attorney and capacity to do so - create a Lasting Power of Attorney for Property & Finance. I have written this before, but with recent experience can only amplify this message.
To find out more about my Lasting Power of Attorney service, Advance Care Planning Education or support for people facing a life changing diagnosis, contact me
If you have received in formation from any of the content and would like to support my ongoing work, head to Buy me a coffee – thank you.
