The government has launched an online service to enable companies and organisations to check if a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) has been registered.
The View an LPA service is an efficient and secure way of verifying both the LPA itself and the attorneys.
Benefits of the online service
- Essential information is summarised on a single page, as opposed to across several pages in the paper version;
- It saves time – a paper copy can take days to arrive and be returned, leaving a donor without anyone to act for them in the meantime;
- Multiple people can access the LPA at the same time, whereas there is only one copy of the registered paper LPA and while it is being used by one attorney, any other attorneys are unable to act on behalf of the donor; and
- All the information on View an LPA is accurate when you view it, whereas the paper LPA can only show the information it contained when it was initially registered.
Information available to view
View an LPA containing all the information that may be required to allow an attorney to make decisions on behalf of the donor.
Details include:
- The donor’s details – name, address and date of birth;
- The attorneys’ details – how many there are, their names, addresses and dates of birth;
- How decisions are made by the attorneys;
- The donor’s choice on life-sustaining treatment, if the LPA is for health and welfare
- Any instructions and preferences written by the donor, which could affect or even disallow what the attorney intends to do; and
- Whether the LPA is still valid and registered.
Copies of the LPA can be downloaded and printed from the online service if required.
Using the service
To access the View an LPA service, organisations or companies will need to:
- Obtain an ‘LPA access code’, which is supplied by either the attorney or donor (each attorney, and the donor, can generate access codes for the companies they need to deal with). The code is 13 digits long and begins with the letter V;
- Enter the donor’s surname and 13-digit access code, if an LPA is found, the full name of the donor and the LPA type will be displayed;
- Check the LPA type is the correct one for the decision being made;
- Provide the name of the organisation or company, so any attorneys can see when and how the LPA is being used.
Only LPAs registered on or after 1 January 2016 can be verified on View an LPA.
How M+A Partners can help
An online service that enables easy access to view and verify an LPA can only introduce efficiencies when it comes to the process of attorneys making decisions on behalf of a donor.
Lasting Powers of Attorney complements the range of life planning services M+A Partners provides to help clients and their families prepare for the future. For any queries on the new View an LPA service or the process of drafting and registering an LPA, please get in touch with one of our experts.
