We were recently approached by a new client who wanted to get an “LPA in place quickly”. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that gives someone (a donor) their choice of people (attorneys) the authority to help and deal with their financial and/or health affairs on their behalf.
In this particular case, our client’s elderly father’s health was fast deteriorating, and he was having a hard time managing his finances and general care, which was causing stress and worry for both him and his family. He wished to appoint our client and her brother, as people he could trust, as attorneys in a LPA. The family wanted to get an LPA in place quickly so they could get on top of bills and finances that had already been neglected, arrange home help for their father, and generally make his life more secure and comfortable.
However, here’s the rub. Whilst LPAs can be drawn up quite quickly, they have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before they are legally valid and the attorneys are entitled to use them, and the delay for registration is approximately 5 months! Unfortunately, the OPG has been suffering delays to the registration process of up to 20 weeks, twice as long as they were before the pandemic, and with a backlog of approximately 160,000 LPAs this wait time has seen no signs of reducing almost two years later.
For this reason, the OPG encourages people to register LPAs in advance of needing them, as an LPA won’t come into effect until a person loses mental capacity, or in the case of Property and Financial Affairs, gives their attorneys permission to make decisions on their behalf.
At THP Solicitors we would advise that you plan ahead and ideally register your LPAs as soon as they are drawn up. If you don’t, 20 weeks is a long time for someone’s financial affairs and/or care needs to be left without assistance. Until a Property & Financial Affairs LPA is registered the attorneys will not be able to pay bills, go to the bank to draw money or pension payments, or indeed conduct any financial business on the donor’s behalf until the registration process is complete. This applies equally whether the donor has lost mental capacity or retains capacity but is housebound.
If the donor has lost mental capacity after completing but before registering an LPA for Health & Welfare decisions, time-sensitive issues involving urgent medical decisions, as well as decisions relating to the donor’s day-to-day care needs will be unable to be made by the attorneys.
Whilst the team at THP Solicitors cannot reduce the delays at the OPG, by using legal professionals you can at least ensure that your LPA is completed without any errors and that registration will not be further delayed by correcting these mistakes. Contact a member of our team if you would like to learn more about drawing up and registering Health & Welfare and Property & Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney.
Please contact our Wills, Trusts & Estate Administration team on on 0118 975 6622 (Lower Earley office) or 01491 570900 (Henley-on-Thames office) or send us a confidential email to office@thpsolicitors.co.uk
