Ap­point­ing an LPA At­tor­ney in the UK

In this art­icle, we will delve into the role of an at­tor­ney under an LPA, fo­cus­ing on the pro­cess of their ap­point­ment and the cru­cial at­trib­utes to con­sider in a po­ten­tial at­tor­ney.

We'll ex­am­ine the legal re­quire­ments for ap­point­ing an LPA at­tor­ney, in­clud­ing the re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess with the Office of the Public Guard­i­an in the UK.

The Pro­cess of Ap­point­ing an At­tor­ney for LPA

When choos­ing an at­tor­ney for your LPA, it’s cru­cial to pick someone who is not only trust­worthy but also cap­able of re­spons­ibly man­aging your af­fairs should you become unable to do so your­self. Look for qual­it­ies such as re­li­ab­il­ity, good judge­ment, and a strong sense of re­spons­ib­il­ity.

Leg­ally, your chosen at­tor­ney must be at least 18 years old and have the mental ca­pa­city to make de­cisions on your behalf. This means that they must be fully able to un­der­stand the nature and con­sequences of the de­cisions they're making under the LPA.

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Legal Re­quire­ments and Re­gis­tra­tion of LPA

As we have just dis­cussed, to qual­i­fy as an LPA at­tor­ney in the UK, a person must meet two basic cri­ter­ia:

• they must be an adult over 18 years of age, and 
• they must be men­tally cap­able of making de­cisions.

Once you have chosen your at­tor­ney, you'll need to re­gister the LPA with the Office of the Public Guard­i­an. This in­volves filling out the ne­ces­sary forms with the at­tor­ney's in­form­a­tion, and paying the re­gis­tra­tion fee, which is cur­rently £82 per LPA.

Re­gis­tra­tion is cru­cial as it form­al­ises the LPA, making it leg­ally bind­ing and ef­fect­ive when needed.

⚠️ Typ­ic­ally, the re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess can take up to 20 weeks at the Office of the Public Guard­i­an. During this time, the Office may reach out if they need ad­di­tion­al in­form­a­tion to ensure everything is pro­cessed smoothly.

Read more: How to Use a Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney?

Powers and Lim­it­a­tions of an LPA At­tor­ney

An LPA at­tor­ney has the au­thor­ity to make de­cisions on your behalf, but their powers are clearly defined by the type of LPA - wheth­er it's for fin­an­cial de­cisions, or health and care.

Fin­an­cial at­tor­neys can manage bank ac­counts, pay bills, and sell prop­erty, where­as health and ware­fare at­tor­neys make choices about your med­ic­al care, daily routine, and living ar­range­ments.

However, both types of at­tor­ney must always act in your best in­terest, follow your in­struc­tions where pos­sible, and they can’t make changes to your will or vote on your behalf.

Hand­ling LPA Dis­putes

Dis­putes in­volving an LPA at­tor­ney can come up for vari­ous reas­ons, typ­ic­ally re­volving around dis­agree­ments on de­cision-making or con­cerns about the at­tor­ney’s ac­tions.

Resolv­ing these dis­putes ef­fect­ively is cru­cial to making sure that the at­tor­ney con­tin­ues to act in the best in­terest of the person they rep­res­ent.

Here are some steps and meas­ures for hand­ling dis­putes:

1. Me­di­ation: This is often the first step in resolv­ing con­flicts. Me­di­ation in­volves a neut­ral third party who helps fa­cil­it­ate a res­ol­u­tion between the dis­put­ing parties. It's a less formal and often cheap­er al­tern­at­ive to court pro­ceed­ings.
2. Legal In­ter­ven­tion: If me­di­ation does not work, it may be ne­ces­sary to seek legal in­ter­ven­tion. This can in­volve ap­ply­ing to the Court of Pro­tec­tion, which has the au­thor­ity to make de­cisions about the LPA and the at­tor­ney's ac­tions. The court can review the at­tor­ney’s de­cisions, provide dir­ec­tions, or make orders to ensure the donor's in­terests are pro­tec­ted.
3. Com­plaints to the Office of the Public Guard­i­an (“OPG”): If there are con­cerns about the at­tor­ney’s be­ha­viour, such as misuse of funds or abuse of au­thor­ity, com­plaints can be filed with the OPG. The OPG can in­vest­ig­ate the matter and has powers to remove the at­tor­ney if mis­con­duct is proven.
4. Reg­u­lar Re­views: Set­ting up reg­u­lar re­views of the at­tor­ney’s de­cisions by an­oth­er family member or pro­fes­sion­al can help catch and ad­dress po­ten­tial dis­putes early. This en­sures trans­par­ency and ac­count­ab­il­ity in the at­tor­ney’s ac­tions.
5. Clear Com­mu­nic­a­tion: Often, dis­putes arise from mis­un­der­stand­ings about the donor's wishes or the scope of the at­tor­ney’s powers. Reg­u­lar, clear com­mu­nic­a­tion between all parties, in­clud­ing the donor, the at­tor­ney, and family mem­bers, can pre­vent dis­putes.

Ending an LPA

An LPA can be re­voked or end under sev­er­al con­di­tions:

• Re­voc­a­tion by the Donor: If you still have the mental ca­pa­city, you can revoke your LPA at any time. This re­quires no­ti­fy­ing the at­tor­ney and the Office of the Public Guard­i­an form­ally.
• Death: The LPA ends auto­mat­ic­ally upon the death of the donor. In such cases, the at­tor­ney’s au­thor­ity to manage the donor’s af­fairs ends im­me­di­ately.
• Bank­ruptcy: If the LPA is for prop­erty and fin­an­cial af­fairs and the at­tor­ney be­comes bank­rupt, the LPA is auto­mat­ic­ally can­celled.
• Lack of Ca­pa­city or Death of the At­tor­ney: If the at­tor­ney dies or no longer has the ca­pa­city to make de­cisions, the LPA may end unless there are other at­tor­neys ap­poin­ted.
• Dis­sol­u­tion or An­nul­ment of Mar­riage: If the at­tor­ney is the donor’s spouse or civil part­ner and the mar­riage or civil part­ner­ship is ended by dis­sol­u­tion, an­nul­ment, or they are leg­ally sep­ar­ated, the LPA is auto­mat­ic­ally re­voked unless stated oth­er­wise in the doc­u­ment.

Ap­point­ing an LPA At­tor­ney

In sum­mary, it’s cru­cial to grasp the roles, powers, and lim­it­a­tions of an LPA at­tor­ney for man­aging your own af­fairs or those of someone close to you.

Wheth­er you're set­ting up an LPA or acting as an at­tor­ney, un­der­stand­ing how to re­solve dis­putes and know­ing when an LPA can be ter­min­ated is key to making sure de­cisions are made with every­one's best in­terests in mind.

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