To make a lasting power of attorney (or LPA), you need to find a certificate provider. Their signature on your LPA is essential, proving that you’ve made it of your own free will and with the full understanding of what you’re doing. So, who can be an LPA certificate provider, and what do they need to do?

Let’s see…

 

What is a certificate provider?

A certificate provider is one of the people who need to sign a lasting power of attorney before you can register it. They’re needed as an independent judge of your mental capacity: they sign to say that you understand what your LPA will do and that no one is forcing you to make one.

 

Who can be a certificate provider for an LPA?

Your LPA certificate provider needs to be able to accurately assess your state of mind, without bias. So, it can’t just be anyone.

To properly vouch for a lasting power of attorney, the certificate provider must be over 18 and either:

  • Someone who has known you well for at least two years — a friend, a colleague, neighbour, or even someone you used to work with.
  • Someone with the professional ability to check your mental capacity — like a doctor (e.g. your GP), registered social worker, or solicitor.

If you’d like to ask a solicitor to be your LPA certificate provider, be aware you may have to pay them for their time.

 

Who CAN’T be a certificate provider for an LPA?

This is very important: there are rules on who can’t be a certificate provider, too. 

The LPA certificate provider must not be:

  • One of your attorneys or replacement attorneys
  • Someone who was an attorney or replacement attorney in a power of attorney you’ve made before
  • Your relative, or someone who’s related to an attorney — this includes civil partners, spouses, in-laws and step-relatives
  • Your (unmarried) partner, or the partner of one of your attorneys — whether you live together or not
  • You or your attorney’s business partner or employee
  • Someone who owns, manages, is a director of or works at a care home where you live, or anyone related to them
  • (For financial LPAs) anyone who runs or is employed by a trust corporation that you’ve appointed as your attorney

Like an LPA, it’s best to make your will long before it is needed. After all, when it comes to protecting your family, there’s no time like the present. Intrigued? Make a will online with Beyond today. It takes just 15 minutes and costs just £90 — hundreds less than most traditional solicitors. Click here to begin.

 

What does a LPA certificate provider need to do?

If you’ve been asked to be someone’s certificate provider, you need to talk to them alone and ask about their lasting power of attorney.

You should look out for signs that they don’t understand what the LPA is, or that someone else has pressured them into making it. 

It may help to read a few things before you talk to the person making the LPA:

Some questions you might like to ask them are:

  • What is your lasting power of attorney for?
  • Why are you making it?
  • What kind of LPA is it? Health? Financial?
  • Who are your chosen attorneys and replacement attorneys?
  • Are they acting jointly, severally, or a mixture of the two?
  • Have you added any instructions or preferences to guide them?
  • Are there any decisions you don’t want them to be able to make for you?

Signing a lasting power of attorney as certificate provider

The certificate provider signs the LPA second, after the donor (that’s person making the LPA). They can also witness the donor’s signature.

 

Find out more

You can find out more about making a power of attorney in the admin and legal section of the Beyond site. Click here to see all the guides.

 

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