Stephen Walker (see [2007] Gazette, 8 November, 16) has not, I think, included the forms for registration of lasting powers of attorney (LPA) in his count of 207 pages. There is a further set of seven PDF files to open for the registration process, running to 81 pages, including the notice of intention to apply for registration, notes, the application for registration, guide, service standards booklet, and leaflets relating to fees and an application form for exemption from fees. Given that we are being encouraged to advise our clients to apply for registration of an LPA, I believe that the estimate of 1.5 hours work which I gave one client last month who wanted me to prepare a property and affairs LPA and to have it registered on her behalf, will prove to be a considerable underestimate.


I cannot see that the average elderly client, when confronted by this mass of paper, will feel inclined to try and fill in the forms themselves. Those who are able to afford, and are prepared to pay, much larger fees to solicitors for the work than we used to charge for enduring powers of attorney (EPA) will not cause us or the Office of the Public Guardian many problems. It worries me that an elderly person trying to grapple with the forms himself will turn for help to a son or daughter, or another relative, who may well be the proposed attorney. There could be scope for abuse, particularly when the Part B certificate is given by a non-professional person. The large spaces in the LPA for donors to insert their directions as to what two or more attorneys may do, any restrictions on the scope of the power, and 'guidance for your attorneys' are invitations for a donor doing a DIY job to include all sorts of ambiguous and muddled directions.



The provision that the LPA cannot come into force until it is registered is a sensible reform, but surely it would have been possible for someone to design a shorter and more concise form. To go from four or five pages for an EPA to 25 pages for an LPA seems like overkill.



John R Ronald, Dollman & Pritchard, Caterham