Enduring Powers of Attorney to be replaced
June 2007
If you are unable to continue managing your affairs, if for instance you are incapacitated by an accident or illness, a power of attorney grants your chosen representative authority to manage your property or financial matters for you. If you have not previously granted a power of attorney your relatives may have to apply to the Court of Protection to achieve the same result - an expensive and time consuming process.
On 1 October 2007 the existing rules for the issue of Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA's) are to be changed. The changes only affect the law applied in England and Wales - the existing legislation for Scotland is unchanged.
Changes proposed for England and Wales from 1 October 2007.
From this date EPA's will be replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA's).
There are a number of differences:
Enduring Power of Attorney
- Enables an individual, the Donor, to appoint an Attorney to deal with their financial affairs.
- Can be used even when the Donor has subsequently lost their mental capacity.
- When the Attorney believes mental capacity is an issue they must inform relatives and register the EPA with the Court of Protection.
Lasting Power of Attorney
- Come in two parts, one part to deal with Donor's financial affairs and the other the Donor's health and welfare.
- The Donor can appoint an Attorney to deal with financial affairs only, health and welfare only, or both.
- LPAs must be registered before they can be used.
- An LPA will also require a Certificate of Capacity - an independent opinion confirming that the Donor was mentally capable at the time of signing the LPA, and that they were not under any undue influence.
As you can see from the above comments, the new LPA requirements are more complex and therefore more expensive to set up. Individuals considering a Power of Attorney may like to act before the changes on 1 October.
An EPA can be extremely useful if your personal circumstances change and you are unable to manage your own affairs. Whatever your age or present state of your health, it is something you could consider.
