Can I Make Amendments To My Lasting Powers of Attorney?

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

There are two different types of Lasting Power of Attorneys (LPAs): Property & Financial Affairs and Health & Welfare. Each of these documents allow you to appoint Attorneys to deal with and manage your property and health related affairs in the event that you are unable to do so yourself.

So, what would happen if you have registered your LPAs and you wish to make amendments?

Once you have registered your LPAs, your circumstances may change and you may wish to alter the appointment of an Attorney, how they can act, or perhaps one of them can no longer act for you.

It is important that you avoid making any changes to your LPAs by hand after it has been registered at the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) as this could invalidate the entire document. It is best to seek legal expert advice, and here at Johnson Astills we would be pleased to assist.

The general rule is that you cannot make any changes to your LPAs once they have been registered at the OPG. However, there are some exceptions – and this is only possible if you still have the mental capacity to make those changes.

Situations where changes to your LPAs can be made are, for example, when you or one of your Attorneys change name or address, or when one of your Attorneys die or lose capacity and are unable to act as your Attorney, so a Replacement Attorney needs to step in and act.

How do you remove an Attorney?

You can remove an Attorney (if you still have mental capacity to do so) by sending the OPG a statement called a ‘Partial Deed of Revocation’. This is something that our expert Solicitors at Johnson Astills can assist you with. This is subject to the way in which you have appointed your Attorneys to act – if you have appointed them to act jointly and severally, the document would still remain valid, but we would need to liaise with the OPG to ensure that they update their records accordingly. Please note that you cannot add an Attorney onto your LPAs once they have been registered – you would need to revoke your existing LPAs in their entirety and prepare new LPAs if you wish to appoint different Attorneys.

Should one of your Attorneys die, you would need to inform the OPG as soon as possible – you would need to provide evidence of this, and this is something that we would be more than happy to assist you with.

How do I amend an Attorneys information?

If your name or address, or one of your Attorneys names or addresses change, it is important to notify the OPG of these changes. This can be done by contacting the OPG and updating their records with the correct information – you would need to submit evidence showing the change of name or address. this is something that Johnson Astills would be happy to help with.

If you do not have LPAs in place and it is something that you are considering, or if you have registered LPAs and wish to make an amendment or obtain some legal advice in relation to changes, please get in touch with us at Johnson Astills today and we would be more than happy to discuss your requirements further. Please call us at our office in Leicester or our office in Loughborough. Alternatively, you may prefer to email us at legal@johnsonastills.com or fill in our enquiry form.