Later Life Choices

The Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) has been replaced by the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). However, if you made and signed an EPA before 1 October 2007, it is still valid.

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You might already be using it without having registered it, so that someone can act on your behalf (unlike an LPA, which must be registered before use). This is fine, until you become unable to make your own decisions relating to financial and property matters.

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Once this happens, the EPA must be registered before your attorney can take any further action on your behalf. At this point it’s the responsibility of your attorney to register the EPA with the Office of the Public Guardian.

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Remember that an EPA only covers decisions about your property and financial affairs; an attorney doesn’t have power under an EPA to make decisions about your health and care.

 

You might want to consider setting up an LPA for health and care decisions to work alongside the existing EPA.