What is an Enduring Power of Attorney?

An EPA is a form of deed enabling a person (the donor) to appoint one or more persons (the attorney/s) to manage their financial affairs and property for them either immediately or when they are no longer mentally capable.

The donor must be mentally capable when they sign the deed.

How does it work?

Once a deed is set up it can offer peace of mind knowing that should you need assistance as a result of age, mental illness or incapacity, there is a trusted person able to deal with your financial matters.

This may include doing your banking, paying your bills and deciding how your money is invested.

Giving someone EPA means that they will have the power to make all these decisions for you and to sign all necessary legal documents.

An attorney has a duty to keep accounts. The Court of Protection can call on attorneys at any time to account for their dealings.

How do I set it up?

Like a will, an EPA is a private document which can be purchased from legal stationers.

It is also available on the website of the Public Guardianship Office.

You can complete the forms yourself, but you may wish to ask a solicitor or other professional advisers to help or do it for you. They may charge for this.

If the EPA has been set up to come into effect only when the donor is no longer mentally capable, then it must be registered with the Public Guardianship Office at that point.

Such an EPA cannot be used until the attorney has registered it.

How do I register the EPA?

The registration process involves the attorney sending a 'Notice of Intention to Register', using form EP1, to relatives of the donor.

The EP1 is also given to the donor, and application form EP2 then completed.

The forms can be obtained from the Public Guardianship Office

The attorney must then send the original EPA document, together with form EP2 and the appropriate fee to the PGO.

It usually costs �220 to register an EPA, but the PGO has some discretion to waive all or part of the fee.

For instance those with assets of less than �16,000 will only pay �65.

Where can I find more information?

The best source of information on EPA is the Public Guardianship Office, which has a

with full details of what an EPA is and how to set one up.

The PGO asks that you read their

before completing the various

forms

.

For information about PGO fees, read the

Further PGO contact details:

EPA Team
Public Guardianship Office
Stewart House
24 Kingsway
London, WC2B 6JX

EPA Helpline: 020 7664 7327 or 0845 330 2963
(UK only)
Direct Fax: 020 7664 7702

Customer Service Unit (for forms and booklets): 020 7664 7300

Alternatively, you can send the PGO an email.