Why this is ESSENTIAL!!
The most important point about Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) is that the documents cannot be used by the attorneys until the document/s have been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian!
I have recently spoken to a couple of people whose parents had drawn up LPAs but NOT gone ahead to register!
One person had been advised that registration was at the time “unnecessary” as the donor (the giver of the power) still had capacity. That it was fine to wait to a later date to register the document. In other words that the registration should only be done when the person was starting to lose capacity!
Whilst you are not “legally required” to register straight away, this advice is highly dangerous. The reason to register as soon as an LPA is put in place is twofold:
• Any problems with the document can be sorted out. It’s common knowledge that LPAs are frequently “rejected” by the Office of Public Guardian on the slightest of grounds. This may involve some of the documents having to be re-signed and re-submitted.
• If there are objections to the LPA from a family member, this too can be dealt with.
The essential point is that a professional cannot know until the document has been sent for registration whether or not an issue will crop up. Only by going for registration straight away (when the donor is mentally capable), can all such issues be easily sorted out.
If you wait to register at a later date, it is possible that a problem may occur which is unforeseen. I have heard of a case when an LPA was not registered straight away, and when an application to register was made the document was rejected. As the time-lag had been nearly a year, the donor of the power had lost capacity. The upshot was that the LPA could NOT be registered, and an application for a costly Deputyship had to be made.