Is this Enduring Power of Attorney still valid?

Trevor1989

Hello,

My father-in-law signed and had witnessed an Enduring Power of Attorney naming my wife in 2006.

My wife didn't complete the Attorney section as we felt it was only necessary to do that once it needed to be used.

The law changed in 2007 and new EPA's cannot be used. Only those EPA's done before 2007 are still valid.

Does the fact that my wife didn't sign and witness the Attorney part of the EPA before 2007 mean that it is no longer valid? Or is it OK for her to sign it now and to use it? My father-in-law is 90 and frail, but still has mental capacity. However he now needs help managing his affairs.

Thanks

Trev

Keep_pedalling

Are you referring to form EP2PG or something else?

Trevor1989

Its called Conveyancing 36E or CON36E

Trev

Keep_pedalling

That should have been completed at the time, it is way too late now.

Does your FIL still have the mental capacity to start again with a LPA?

Trevor1989

Yes he does mental capacity. But obviously wanted to avoid having to go through the LPA process. Thanks for the reply.

Keep_pedalling

Trevor1989 wrote: »

Yes he does mental capacity. But obviously wanted to avoid having to go through the LPA process. Thanks for the reply.

I think it is worth redoing anyway, having just one attorney is risky, he should have at least two, with the ability to act jointly and separately or a primary attorney with one back up in case the primary attorney becomes unable to act.

While you are at it put LPAs in place for yourself and your wife.

Trevor1989

Good advice - thanks!

Trev

helcat26

If she did not complete the attorney bit then she will not of registered it. So it is not valid and you will need to do another one ( or possibly 2 as health and financial require separate ones now).
It is quick enough to do on the government website,
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/certify
Then you need to send the signed thing off with the fee, you will find getting the registered one back seems to take about 2 months.
Of course the gentleman in question needs to be of sound mind to sign his bit.
When you get it back you will also need to make some copies signed by a notary, as some institutions - eg income tax require you to send the original or a notarised (signed and stamped by a lawyer) copy and they keep hold of it for a while so it is best to have a few to hand .

Keep_pedalling

The donor can also certify copies while they are of sound mind. Someone from the DWP tried to tell me otherwise until I pointed them to government's own web site telling how to do it.

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/certify

One big difference with the EPA and an LPA is the ability to register the LPA in advance of actually needing it, and this process take around 8 weeks, so I recomend you do that. We have had ours registered for 3 years and hopefully they won't need using for many years yet, but if you suddenly become incapacitated through illness or accident your attorneys will be unable to do anything until the LPA is registered which can cause them a lot of angst and frustration.

Trevor1989

Actually my understanding was that an Enduring Power of Attorney only needed to be registered when the donor no longer has mental capacity. I think that if my wife had signed as an attorney and had it witnessed before 2007 she could have used it as long as her father had mental capacity. Could be wrong on that though.

Trev

helcat26

Yep you are wrong. Unless registered does not exist.