Check How to Re­gister LPA

Re­gis­ter­ing your Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney (LPA) with the Office of the Public Guard­i­an (OPG) is a crit­ic­al step to ensure that it is leg­ally re­cog­nized and can be ef­fect­ively util­ised by trus­ted in­di­vidu­als des­ig­nated to make de­cisions on your behalf.

In this art­icle, we will dis­cuss the im­port­ance of LPA re­gis­tra­tion in the United King­dom and provide a step by step guide as to how it should be re­gistered.

Reas­ons to Re­gister an LPA

This re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess is es­sen­tial for sev­er­al reas­ons:

• Legal Re­cog­ni­tion: Re­gis­ter­ing your LPA with the OPG provides of­fi­cial re­cog­ni­tion of the doc­u­ment's valid­ity and au­then­ti­city. It en­sures that the LPA meets the legal re­quire­ments and is en­force­able in ac­cord­ance with the law. 
• Pro­tec­tion Against Abuse: Re­gis­ter­ing the LPA helps safe­guard against po­ten­tial abuse or misuse by provid­ing over­sight and ac­count­ab­il­ity. The OPG over­sees the func­tion­ing of LPAs and has the au­thor­ity to in­vest­ig­ate any con­cerns raised about the ac­tions of at­tor­neys ap­poin­ted under the LPA. 
• Access to De­cision-Making Au­thor­ity: Once re­gistered, the LPA grants the ap­poin­ted at­tor­neys the legal au­thor­ity to make de­cisions on your behalf in ac­cord­ance with your wishes and best in­terests. Without re­gis­tra­tion, the LPA may not be ac­cep­ted by third parties, such as fin­an­cial in­sti­tu­tions or health­care pro­viders, when de­cisions need to be made. 
• Ease of Use: Re­gistered LPAs are read­ily ac­cess­ible and can be easily veri­fied by rel­ev­ant parties when re­quired. This stream­lines the pro­cess of ac­cess­ing and ex­er­cising de­cision-making powers con­ferred by the LPA, en­sur­ing that your af­fairs are man­aged smoothly and ef­fi­ciently. 
• Future Plan­ning: Re­gis­ter­ing your LPA with the OPG provides peace of mind for both you and your loved ones by es­tab­lish­ing clear guidelines for de­cision-making in the event of in­ca­pa­city. It demon­strates your pro­act­ive ap­proach to future plan­ning and en­sures that your pref­er­ences are hon­oured and re­spec­ted.

In sum­mary, re­gis­ter­ing your LPA with the Office of the Public Guard­i­an is es­sen­tial to val­id­ate its legal status, pro­tect against abuse, grant de­cision-making au­thor­ity to ap­poin­ted at­tor­neys, fa­cil­it­ate ease of use, and enable ef­fect­ive future plan­ning.

It is a cru­cial step in en­sur­ing that your af­fairs are man­aged ac­cord­ing to your wishes and best in­terests, even in cir­cum­stances where you are unable to make de­cisions for your­self.

UK's Go-To Choice for Cre­at­ing an LPA

Steps to Re­gister an LPA

Below you can find a step-by-step guide on how to re­gister LPA in the UK.

1. Obtain the Ne­ces­sary Forms

Com­plete the LPA forms given on the OPG’s web­site. These forms in­clude:

• An LP1H (Health and wel­fare LPA)
• An LP1F (Fin­an­cial De­cisions LPA).

2. Fill Out the Forms

Follow the dir­ec­tions given on the forms to fill out your doc­u­ments care­fully. It is es­sen­tial to com­plete all sec­tions ac­cur­ately, as any errors or miss­ing in­form­a­tion can delay the re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess.

3. Sign and Wit­ness the Forms

Both you and your chosen at­tor­ney(s) must sign and date the LPA in front of wit­nesses, who must also sign and date it.

⚠️ Note: The LP1H also needs to be signed by a cer­ti­fic­ate pro­vider. This is a person who con­firms that the donor un­der­stands the nature and scope of the LPA and is making the de­cision to grant power vol­un­tar­ily and without undue in­flu­ence. The cer­ti­fic­ate pro­vider is either someone with rel­ev­ant  pro­fes­sion­al skills, such as a doctor or lawyer or someone that has known you well for at least two years, such as a friend or col­league.

4. Submit the Forms

Once com­pleted, signed, and wit­nessed, the forms should be sub­mit­ted to the OPG, along with the cur­rent fee of £82 for each LPA re­gistered.

The OPG ad­dress is:

Office of the Public Guard­i­an PO Box 16185
Birm­ing­ham B2 2WH

5. Wait for Con­firm­a­tion

The OPG may take up to 10 weeks for pro­cessing and re­gis­ter­ing your LPA after you have sub­mit­ted an ap­plic­a­tion.

Once the LPA has been re­gistered by the OPG you will re­ceive con­firm­a­tion of re­gis­tra­tion from them. This con­firm­a­tion typ­ic­ally in­cludes a re­gis­tra­tion cer­ti­fic­ate with a unique ref­er­ence number.

Amend­ing a Re­gistered LPA

It's im­port­ant to note that cer­tain changes to an LPA may re­quire the sub­mis­sion of a formal ap­plic­a­tion to the OPG for re­gis­tra­tion.

For sig­ni­fic­ant changes or amend­ments, it's ad­vis­able to con­sult with legal pro­fes­sion­als to ensure com­pli­ance with legal re­quire­ments and to pro­tect the in­terests of all parties in­volved.

How Do You Check if an LPA Has Been Re­gistered?

To check the status of your LPA re­gis­tra­tion, con­tact the OPG by tele­phone or via email.

The ref­er­ence number of your LPA and the donor name will need to be provided.

Avoid Common Errors when Re­gis­ter­ing an LPA

The re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess for LPAs is prone to errors.

Some common errors are:

• In­cor­rect or In­com­plete In­form­a­tion on Forms: If you do not provide the re­ques­ted in­form­a­tion in ac­cord­ance with OPG in­struc­tions, there may be a delay in your re­gis­tra­tion.
• Not Having a Wit­ness Present: Both you and your chosen at­tor­ney(s) must sign and date the LPA form in front of a wit­ness, who must also sign it. Don’t forget that the LP1H also needs to be signed by a Cer­ti­fic­ate Pro­vider.
• Fail­ure to Pay the Fee: Ensure that you in­clude the cor­rect amount of money with your ap­plic­a­tion so as not to make this mis­take.
• Use of cor­rect Forms: Ensure you use the latest ver­sion of the forms from the OPG’s web­site.

Most of these errors can be avoided if you do your home­work. In other words, before send­ing any forms, read all in­struc­tions given by the OPG thor­oughly and double check that you are cor­rect.

Enter Aatos: The Online Solu­tion for LPA’s

Not sure if you’ve grasped all the rules and reg­u­la­tions on LPAs? Don’t worry, that’s what Aatos is made for.

Aatos is an In­ter­net ser­vice de­veloped by legal prac­ti­tion­ers to sim­pli­fy the pro­cess of com­plet­ing and re­gis­ter­ing LPAs (as well as many other im­port­ant legal doc­u­ments). Aatos seam­lessly guides users through each step of legal pro­cesses with clear in­struc­tions. So, if you want to com­plete your LPAs mostly online, we’re here for you.

Aatos also offers free legal sup­port if you become stuck when going through the pro­cess, which makes the pro­ced­ure more ac­cess­ible to all parties.

Re­gister LPA with Aatos

You must ensure that your LPA is filled out cor­rectly by fol­low­ing the steps above to avoid errors.

As men­tioned, to be leg­ally re­cog­nised in the United King­dom, an LPA must then be re­gistered with the OPG.

For the im­port­ant (but often tricky) re­gis­tra­tion pro­cess Aatos will soon hold your hand. Once you have filled out your LPA’s online via Aatos’ web­site, we send your LPA to you do you can com­plete the final steps to re­gister your LPA.

You will need to pay the re­gis­tra­tion fees, sign the LPAs cor­rectly, and post them to the OPG. To make sure you do this cor­rectly, when we post your LPA to your door, we in­clude an in­struc­tion book­let break­ing down the whole pro­cess. This avoids and errors which can pre­vent your LPA from being re­gistered, saving you time, money and hassle.

With our free trial, it’s easier than ever to get star­ted with Aatos and dis­cov­er our LPA and Last Will re­sources.

Try Aatos today and make your LPA the right way - future you will thank you!

Read more

• Guide: Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney
• Ac­tiv­at­ing a Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney for Health and Wel­fare
• How to Use a Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney?
• Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney Online
• Cost LPA
• Last­ing Power of At­tor­ney Free forms