Signing Your Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)
The LPA must be signed by the people involved and in the correct order. If they don’t, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) won’t register it and your attorney(s) will be unable to use it.
It is essential that the forms are signed in the following order:
If you cannot sign the LPA documents yourself, you will be given an extra sheet that a representative can sign on your behalf.
If, for any reason you cannot sign the document, you can appoint someone to sign it on your behalf. There will be an extra sheet with the LPA, continuation sheet A3, that someone must sign for you. You must be present and must tell the person to sign. Two witnesses must watch when continuation sheet A3 is signed.
You must sign:
Section 9
Any continuation sheets (you may have one or more copies of either continuation sheet 1 or 2)
The statement about life-sustaining treatment on page 6, if it is a Health and Welfare LPA
Your signatures must be made and witnessed on the same date.
The certificate provider should sign the LPA form, section 10, as soon as possible, this could be on the same day you sign and must be within a year.
They should sign the LPA form, section 11, as soon as possible, after the certificate provider, which can be on the same day you sign and must be within a year. They can sign in any order but their signatures must be witnessed. You can’t be a witness but your attorneys can be witnesses for each other.
Attorney and replacement attorney signatures must be made and witnessed on the same date.
Witnesses
Witnesses are impartial people aged at least 18 years who watch you and your attorneys (including any replacements) sign your LPA. Witnesses must then sign the LPA to confirm that they saw you and your attorneys sign it.
Your witnesses cannot be:
One of your attorneys
One of your replacement attorneys
An employee of a trust corporation that you’ve named as an attorney or replacement attorney
The same person can witness both donor and attorney signatures, so long as they are not one of your attorneys. However, you don’t have to use the same witness for all signatures.
Important – Once you have signed the LPA you cannot make any changes. If you do need to you will need to reprint the form and start again. If you send your LPA to the OPG with an incorrect signing order, you will have to complete some or all parts of it again and may incur additional fees.
People to Notify
Each person you would like to Notify needs to be sent their own LP3 form as found with your LPA document and these instructions. You will need enter the date you signed the LPA on this form and then send the form. On the form, there is explanation as to how the people you have chosen to notify can object to the LPA being registered, if they wish to. They have 3 weeks from the date they are notified to make known to the OPG these objections.
Check your LPA
You will find a checklist at the end of your LPA form which is very helpful. You should check that you have completed the LPA form before sending it to the OPG to register it.
The checklist will run through the following:
The donor filled in sections 1 to 7
The donor signed section 9 in the presence of a witness. The donor also signed any copies of continuation sheets 1 and 2 that were used, on the same date as signing section 9. The certificate provider signed section 10.
All the attorneys and replacement attorneys signed section 11, in the presence of witness(es).
Sections 9, 10 and 11 were signed in order. Section 9 must have been signed first, then section 10, then section 11. They can be dated the same day or different days. The donor or an attorney completed sections 12 to 15. If the attorneys are applying and were appointed ‘jointly’ (section 3), they have all signed section 15 of this form.
You’ve paid the application fee or applied for a reduced fee. If you’ve applied for a reduced fee, you’ve included the required evidence and completed form LPA120A.
If there were any people to notify in section 6, you’ve notified them using form LP3. You’ve not left out any of the pages of the LPA, even the ones where I didn’t write anything or there were no boxes to fill in.
Registering your LPA
Once you are happy that your LPA has been signed correctly you must then send it, and where applicable, continuation sheets and LPA120 (reduce fee application form), to the OPG so that they can check and register it.
If you are applying to register the LPA, the OPG lets the attorneys know about the application. If an attorney is applying, the OPG tells you and any other attorneys. The OPG then processes the LPA and holds it for at least 4 weeks. The 4-week wait is set by law. It gives people time to raise concerns they have about the LPA: for example, if they think you’re being forced into making it or that someone is committing fraud.
The OPG also uses the time to check that the LPA has been made correctly and there’s nothing that would make it invalid or unworkable. If there is something that must be corrected before it can be registered the OPG will contact you.
The whole check and registering process take between 8 and 10 weeks (but can take longer if there are problems). The registered LPA document that OPG sends back to you is the same form that you filled in and sent to the OPG. However, it will have been officially stamped and now legally binding.
Why you should register your LPA now rather than later
You don’t have to register your LPA once you’ve completed it, you can register it later, but it’s a good idea to register it as soon as you can. Your attorneys can only use your LPA to make decisions on your behalf after the OPG has registered it and sent it back to you officially stamped.
If you register your LPA as soon as it is signed, the OPG can spot mistakes while they can still be changed. If there are any errors, you may have to fill in all or part of the LPA again. You can only do that if you still have mental capacity.
If you no longer have mental capacity, your attorneys can apply to register your LPA – however, it won’t be possible to correct any errors. If there are mistakes, the OPG can’t register the LPA and the LPA can’t be used. Your attorneys, or someone else, will have to apply to the Court of Protection to get the power to make decisions on your behalf or get a declaration that the LPA can be treated as valid. This can be a long process and can cost a lot more than an LPA.