The Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) documents will need to be signed and witnessed. Once you have received the forms from us, including our bespoke Guidance Forms, it is time for the Donor, Attorney(s), Replacement Attorney(s), if any, and the Certificate Provider to begin signing and witnessing the LPA. Ideally, the signing and witnessing of the LPA is completed on the same day, reducing the chance of any error being made. So who can be my LPA witness? It is best that someone who is completely impartial act as the witness through out the LPA signing. The chosen Certificate Provider is a wise ..read more

Claim a Power of Attorney refund. You can get part of your registration fee refunded if you applied to register your Lasting Power of Attorney from 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2017. Bear in mind that these refunds only apply to Lasting Power of Attorney and Enduring Power of Attorney. There is a deadline for a refund to be made, you must claim your Lasting Power of Attorney refund before 1st February 2021. (You can only apply for the refund if the Lasting Power of Attorney forms were made in England or Wales) But who can claim a refund? You may apply for the refund if you are: The ‘Donor’ – t ..read more

You’ve been appointed as an attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). The person who made the Lasting Power of Attorney (the ‘donor’) trusts you to make decisions for them if they lose mental capacity. If they want, you can help them now. ‘Mental Capacity’ is the ability to make a specific decision at the time is needs to be made.  This Lasting Power of Attorney covers the donor’s property and money matters, such as: using their bank & building society, current & savings accounts claiming, receiving and using their benefits, pensions and allowances paying their household, ca ..read more

We’re always interested to understand what motivates people to plan ahead for a time when they can’t make decisions for themselves. Usha Grieve from Compassion In Dying shares some insight relating to advanced planning for Health & Welfare decisions. “At Compassion In Dying, we believe that everyone should get the care and treatment that is right for them at the end of life. We know that 82% of people have strong feelings about how they’d like to be treated or cared for at this stage – but what if, due to illness or accident, we became unable to communicate these wishes or make decisions a ..read more

The Mental Capacity Act was created in 2005 and was designed to empower and protect those who lack mental capacity. It makes clear who can make decisions for an adult who lacks mental capacity, and in what circumstances. The Mental capacity Act is supported by a code of practice which provides guidance and information about how the act works in practice. So why is this important to the Office of the Public Guardian and our customers?   In order to safeguard vulnerable adults, the Office of the Public Guardian works to ensure that the principles of the Mental Capacity Act are being followed by ..read more

The Office of the Public Guardian receive a large number of Lasting Power of Attorney applications from individuals as well as professionals. Around 15% of these have errors of various kinds. You can avoid mistakes being made with our checking service to ensure that none of the usual mistakes are made. What are the common mistakes? 1) Using the wrong form. As there are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney (Property & Financial and Health & Welfare), many people accidentally use the wrong one. A lot of people use the Health & Welfare form, when they meant to use the Property &am ..read more

What happens if i do not prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney?   Whilst there is an increase in the awareness of Lasting Power of Attorney and a greater understanding of the importance of these documents, few still do not understand the consequences of not preparing them. A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document which allows you to choose trusted family or friends to manage your financial and/or health matters, in case you suffer with mental health issues and lose mental capacity to manage your own affairs in the future. Sheila, a donor, discusses who she chose to act as her attorneys a ..read more