Enduring Power of Attorney

What is an Enduring Power of Attorney?

An Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) is a document appointing a person (an ‘Attorney’) to manage the property and financial affairs of another person (the ‘Donor’).

If the Donor becomes unable to make financial decisions, the EPA must be registered before it can be used or, if it is already in use, before it can continue to be used

Can I make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

In the United Kingdom Lasting Powers of Attorney can be made for either financial and property matters or personal welfare.  These have replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney.  This is not the case in the Falkland Islands.  In the Falkland Islands an individual is only able to make an Enduring Power of Attorney for financial or property matters.

Using the Enduring Power of Attorney

You can start using an EPA at any time if the EPA is legal and the donor gives you permission.

You’ll be responsible for helping the donor make decisions about their finances. Depending on their instructions you’ll help manage things like their:

• money and bills
• bank and building society accounts
• property and investments
• pensions and benefits

There may be other attorneys – if there are, check how the donor wants you to make decisions.

You must register the EPA when the donor starts to lose or has lost their mental capacity. This means they cannot make a decision at the time it needs to be made because of a mental impairment.

You must still involve the person in making decisions whenever possible and only make decisions on their behalf which are in their best interests.

Stop being an Attorney

The EPA will end if the donor cancels it or they die.

You can stop being an attorney by choice.

Register an Enduring Power of Attorney

You must register the enduring power of attorney (EPA) as soon as the donor starts to lose mental capacity.

1. Tell the donor, their family members and other attorneys you intend to register the EPA.
2. Apply to register the EPA.
3. Pay the fee.

Telling people you intend to Register

Download and fill in form EP1. Send it to:

• the donor
• at least 3 of the donor’s family members who are eligible – they must be 18 or over and have mental capacity
• any attorneys who were appointed ‘jointly and severally’ but are not applying to register the EPA

You must tell the first 3 eligible family members from the following list. If there’s no family member in a particular category, move on to the next one. You must try to tell the family members in this order:

• donor’s husband, wife or civil partner
• donor’s children (including adopted children but not including stepchildren)
• donor’s parents
• donor’s brothers and sisters (including half-brothers and half-sisters)
• widow or widower or surviving civil partner of the donor’s child
• donor’s grandchildren
• donor’s nephews and nieces (children of the donor’s full brothers and sisters)
• donor’s nephews and nieces (children of the donor’s half-brothers and half-sisters)
• donor’s aunts and uncles (full brothers or sisters of a parent of the donor)
• donor’s first cousins (children of the donor’s aunts and uncles who are full brothers and sisters of a parent of the donor)

You must tell all the people in a category if you tell one of them, eg if 1 of the 3 relatives you’re telling is a grandchild and the donor has 15 other grandchildren, you must tell all 16 of them.

If you’re a family member as well as an attorney, you count as one of the people to be told. You’ll still have to tell other people in your category.

Forms