Tax & Accounting News

Enduring Powers of Attorney

18/04/2007

Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA’s) have been with us since 1985 and enable an individual to choose someone who can deal with their property and assets (and discharge bills and other liabilities) if you become mentally unable to manage your affairs.

EPA’s should be created during an individual’s lifetime, so as to ensure that an occasion does not arise where their affairs cannot be dealt with efficiently and effectively through incapacity.

The new Mental Capacity Act 2005 is likely to change all of that with effect from the 1 October 2007.

From that date, EPA’s will be replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney, which will be enormously more complex.

Instead of one short form, which currently exists, the new documentation is likely to be twenty pages, which will include a Declaration by a third-party that it has not been made under duress; a Certificate by the person making the Power of Attorney that he/she has read and fully understood the explanation; and execution by the person who will become the Attorney.

It will also have to be registered with the Court of Protection before it can have effect and a fee will be payable in the sum of £150.

There will of course be significant legal fees in dealing with the preparation of such a complex documentation, where the costs for an existing EPA are minimal.

If you are therefore contemplating an EPA, you should take the relevant action now before the form changes, because the good news is that EPA’s made before the change in the law will remain fully valid.

Please contact us for assistance and further information.

 

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