Now it’s quicker and easier to register Lasting Powers of Attorney

Setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) has become easier and quicker following changes to the registration process.

Lasting Powers of Attorney enable you to appoint someone you trust to look after your affairs if you reach a point in the future where you can no longer make decisions for yourself due to ill health. They can also be used if you want to appoint someone to look after your affairs if you are simply too busy or plan to live abroad for long periods.

The property and finance LPA allows you to appoint someone to look after your financial affairs and the personal welfare LPA lets you grant an attorney authority over such matters as health care and the kind of treatment you receive.

LPAs have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before they can become effective. The OPG has now made changes to the registration process to make it quicker.

The statutory waiting period is reduced from six weeks to four weeks. The period in which interested parties can object to an LPA being registered is reduced from five weeks to three weeks.

The changes follow concerns that the waiting periods were unnecessarily long. Denzil Lush, senior judge at the Court of Protection, said: “In 2011, the OPG received 174,214 applications to register an LPA, whereas the Court of Protection received only 107 applications objecting to a registration.”

In view of the low numbers, he called for the waiting period for objections to be abolished altogether.

However, the OPG has decided to keep it and reduce it to three weeks. The changes came into effect on 1 April.

Please contact Michelle Stopford in our Warminster office on 01985 214444 or Sarah Gratton in Westbury on 01373 865577 or email mstopford@mulaw.co.uk or sgratton@mulaw.co.uk  if you would like more information about Lasting Powers of Attorney.