This short blog is in response to a recent query I had following the registration of a client’s Lasting Power of Attorney and the potential for confusion around the word “activation”. To be valid, a Lasting Power of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian; a registered document will have an embossed VALIDATED-OPG area on the bottom of each page and a date stamp and reference number.

You can see an example below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lasting-power-of-attorney-valid-examples

One copy of the document(s) is sent when the Lasting Power of Attorney has been registered. The documents will be sent to whoever is the named correspondent when the Lasting Power of Attorney is drafted and, for my clients, this is usually me. This means I can deal with any queries from the Office of the Public Guardian and, on receipt of the final documents, I can send an email with support for clients on the next steps to take. I include support for the Important Conversations and continued Advance Care Planning that should happen alongside a Lasting Power of Attorney: “It really is the conversations that matter – the LPA form enables these conversations to have validity.”

I also include advice on using activation keys which enable shared digital access to a Lasting Power of Attorney, this is useful as it can be shared with external organisations to view a summary of the Lasting Power of Attorney. I include the blogs, LPAs and Activation Keys and LPAs and Activation Keys: Part 2, A step by step guide to accessing a Lasting Power of Attorney electronically in my follow up email to help explain the on-line digital access.

The link below shows information you can access on the GOV. Use and LPA website:

https://www.gov.uk/use-lasting-power-of-attorney

What I have realised, following a query, is the potential for misunderstanding around the word “activation”. The word “activate” implies a step is needed to complete the Lasting Power of Attorney when, in this case it means simply to activate the process to view the Lasting Power of Attorney digitally.

To conclude, there is one copy of a Lasting Power of Attorney sent when the document has been registered by the Office of the Public Guardian, digital access to the document can be set up to view and share the document and to do this an activation key is needed.

I hope that helps clarify activation keys in the context of Lasting Power of Attorney and, any questions, do contact me.