One of the considerations when applying to register a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) will be the costs involved.
In this guide, we set out the fees that will payable as part of the application process. We also look at the fee reduction and exemption eligibility, as well as the LPA refund scheme.
If your affairs are complicated, or you want the peace of mind that the LPA has been properly created and registered, seeking legal advice will help you with the process as a whole. If you lose mental capacity and you do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place, your friends or relatives will need to apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order to be able to make decisions for you.
The procedure for obtaining this type of order can be complicated and extremely costly. As such, obtaining an LPoA is a far quicker and cheaper option, and gives you the flexibility of electing exactly whom you want to act on your behalf.
Which type of Lasting Power of Attorney?
It is all too often assumed that if someone becomes seriously ill or loses the mental capacity to make their own decisions, that their loved ones can automatically manage their affairs on their behalf.
Unfortunately, unless you already have a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place, a complex and costly application would need to be made to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order for your next of kin or anyone else to be able to make important decisions for you.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows an individual to appoint another person, or persons, to make decisions on their behalf. The person creating the LPA is described as the ‘donor’, while the person appointed to act is referred to as an ‘attorney’.
You may need an attorney to act on your behalf because you need help temporarily, for example, during a stay in hospital or a prolonged trip abroad. An LPA can also be put in place for the future, in the event that you ever lose the mental capacity to make your own decisions.
There are two different types of Lasting Power of Attorney: one for decisions about your property and financial affairs, and one for decisions relating to your health and care.
A financial LPoA can be put in place to take effect as soon as it is registered, whereas a health and care LPoA can only be used in the event that you no longer have the mental capacity to make your own decisions.
Many donors elect to create both types of Lasting Power of Attorney, often with different attorneys to make different types of decisions.
You can appoint more than one attorney for each type of LPA. Further, where you appoint more than one attorney, you can elect that they act jointly, where all decisions must be made unanimously. Alternatively, you can elect that they act jointly and severally, where important decisions must be made together and other day-to-day decisions can be made independently.
How to register a Lasting Power of Attorney
To create a Lasting Power of Attorney you will need to use the prescribed forms: LP1F for financial matters and LP1H for health and welfare matters.
You must be aged 18 or over to create an LPA. Your attorneys must also be aged 18 or over, and at the time of entering into the deed, both you and your attorneys must have the mental capacity to make your own decisions.
You can appoint anyone to act as an attorney, for example, your spouse, an adult child, another relative or even a friend, although you should only appoint someone that you trust will make decisions in your best interests.
The form will require you to provide the details of each attorney, whether they are to act jointly or independently and, for a financial LPA, when this is to take effect. For a health and welfare LPA you will also be required to specify whether you want your attorneys, or your doctors, to make the decision whether you should receive life-sustaining treatment if the need ever arose.
In addition to your attorney(s), you will also need to nominate anyone you wish to be notified of your intention to create a Lasting Power of Attorney. This provides the prospective donor with a safeguard, allowing nominated individuals to raise any objections prior to registration.
The application will need to be signed by the donor, the attorney(s) and a certificate provider. A certificate provider is an independent person required to verify that the donor understands what s/he is signing and that they have not acted under any pressure.
How much are the Lasting Power of Attorney fees?
The fee to register each LPA is £82, unless you qualify for a reduction or exemption of the fee.
This means to create a financial LPA and a health and welfare LPA, the total fee will be £164.
It costs £41 for each repeat application fee to register an LPA.
You can pay the applicable Lasting Power of Attorney fees by debit or credit card online. If you complete your application using paper forms, you can post a cheque, together with those forms to the Office of the Public Guardian.
Do you qualify for the Lasting Power of Attorney fee reduction?
If you (or the donor, ie the person who made the LPA) are on a low income you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of the Lasting Power of Attorney fees. However, you will need to provide documentary evidence of your annual income to be entitled to this concession.
To qualify for a fee reduction you must be in receipt of a gross annual income of less than £12,000 and you will need to complete Form LPA120A.
Gross annual income refers to the money that you receive before tax. When calculating your gross annual income you need to take into account not only any weekly or monthly salary, but any non-means tested benefits such as Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, as well as any pensions, rental income from property and interest from investments.
Please note that it’s only your own benefits and income that are taken into account, not those of your attorney(s), even where an attorney is applying to register an LPoA on your behalf.
Do you qualify for the Lasting Power of Attorney fee exemption?
If you (or the donor, ie the person who made the LPA) are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits you may be eligible for an exemption from the Lasting Power of Attorney fees. Again, you will need to complete Form LPA120A and provide documentary evidence of your benefits to be entitled to this concession.
To qualify for a fee exemption you must be in receipt of one of a number of means-tested benefits, including Income Support, Housing Benefit, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and the Guarantee Credit element of State Pension Credit.
Please note that it’s only your own benefits and income that are taken into account, not those of your attorney(s), even where an attorney is applying to register an LPoA on your behalf.
Lasting Power of Attorney fees refund
If you applied to register an LPA between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017 you may be entitled to a partial refund of your Lasting Power of Attorney fees.
This is a government run scheme to refund overpayments in fees during this qualifying period, namely a period where the Office of the Public Guardian were still charging £110 per document, even though their operational costs no longer justified this higher level of fee.
You mays also be entitled to a partial refund where you registered an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) during this time frame. EPAs were, in large, replaced by the Lasting Power of Attorney in 2007. However, in some cases where an EPA had been drafted prior to the cut-off date of 1 October 2007 but not registered until post 1 April 2013, you may still qualify for a refund.
The level of refund will depend exactly when you registered the Lasting or Enduring Power of Attorney and are set as follows:
- Fee paid April to September 2013 – £54
- Fee paid October 2013 to March 2014 – £34
- Fee paid April 2014 to March 2015 – £37
- Fee paid April 2015 to March 2016 – £38
- Fee paid April 2016 to March 2017 – £45.
For those of you that paid a reduced fee, you will only receive half the applicable Power of Attorney refund.
Lasting Power of Attorney fees charged by solicitors
You can create a Lasting Power of Attorney without the help of a solicitor. That said, if you want to ensure that no mistakes are made, you could seek professional help. In the event that you attempt to register an LPA with a form containing errors, this could void the entire process.
Moreover, if you have lost mental capacity in the interim, this will leave your loved ones with no option but to make a costly application to the Court of Protection.
The Lasting Power of Attorney fees charged by solicitors can vary, although in some cases the solicitor will charge a fixed fee that will be set at the outset. In this way you will know exactly where you stand and the total cost involved.
Legal disclaimer
The matters contained in this article are intended to be for general information purposes only. This article does not constitute legal advice, nor is it a complete or authoritative statement of the law and should not be treated as such.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information is correct, no warranty, express or implied, is given as to its accuracy and no liability is accepted for any error or omission.
Before acting on any of the information contained herein, expert legal advice should be sought.
Author
Gill Laing is a qualified Legal Researcher & Analyst with niche specialisms in Law, Tax, Human Resources, Immigration & Employment Law.
Gill is a Multiple Business Owner and the Managing Director of Prof Services - a Marketing Agency for the Professional Services Sector.
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- Gill Lainghttps://www.lawble.co.uk/author/editor/