LPA copies vs original

[Lynmax]

i posted recently about my dealings with the solicitor who arranged my mums LPAs. In my opinion he did not do his job in a competent way, he said his firm would keep the original copies with my mums will and give the three attorneys certified copies ready for when we might need to use them. I subsequently discovered that he only stamped and signed the front page and then emailed me to say that it is not necessary to sign each page and that he would charge £5 per page to do that - this was initially agreed in his fee but we did not get it in writing. When asked about the original, he said he had no idea where it was and would look for it, since then total silence from him!

Luckily, my sister was able to go through mums paperwork with her and discovered the original forms with the perforated stamp from the OPG. Mum agreed to swap it for a copy so I could keep the original in my safe.

My question is, now that we have the original, is there a need to have certified copies or can the original be used in all instances? I know not to let the original copies out of our hands and I know that her bank will take their own photocopy from the original but I am not sure about other institutions. I guess some will need to have a copy sent through the post, in which case will they need a certified copy?

I object to paying the original solicitor to certify the copies as he has already has almost £1k from Mum so would be using a different firm after checking their prices, which seem to vary considerably. How many certified copies have you needed, it makes sense to get them all done at the same time.

I am thinking of scanning the originals so that I can securely save them into my iCloud account and be able to access them at any time - is that a good idea? Although thinking about it, we would then only be printing a copy so still need to keep the original in a safe place!

 

[love.dad.but..]

From my experience for dad some required a certified copy sent in the post some accepted a photocopy. Am not sure you would be achieving much by icloud scanning for keeping. I had 2 certified copies of poa finance and 2 for health and welfare and this was adequate for everything I needed to do.

 

[canary]

I think there will be times when you need certified copies - for utilities, hospital files, if she goes into a care home (for their files) etc, but you dont have to go back to the original solicitors to have them done.

 

[nitram]

It's best to use certified copies:

• Some financial institutions scan all incoming mail and destroy the original, best defence is a post-it saying 'please return original'.
• Photocopiers have been known to mangle documents.

 

[Angela57]

You will need certified copies to send in the post. Shop around, admittedly it was a few years ago now, but I found a solicitor to do copies for me at £3 each. But as nitram said, do ask for the copies back.

 

[Lilac Blossom]

When I phoned DWP regarding OH's pension they said instead of sending POA to them with request that they return it to you, just go to Jobcentre and ask them to copy the POA as they will rubber stamp the front page and countersign it to confirm that it is an authentic copy - a second member of staff signs to confirm. This prevents the possibility of going missing.
Jobcentre does this while you wait free of charge.

 

[jenniferpa]

The job centre idea is a good one that has been mentioned before in the forum. The trouble is only the dwp and similar may accept it. It probably will be rejected by many non state institutions.

 

[Lilac Blossom]

Yes Jennifer - it would only be acceptable within DWP. The person I spoke to on the phone told me about it and said it was a good idea to use this arrangement instead of depending on getting POA returned as DWP have so many departments/sections - stuff gets passed around and can get lost.

 

[Lynmax]

Thank you for your replies, as I thought, we need to get some certified copies.

I have been told by another solicitor to reportage original solicitor to the Law Society but that is another story!

 

[Sirena]

I've never even seen the original LPA, my mother's solicitor keeps it and sends me certified copies when needed. I wouldn't want to give the original to anyone even to photocopy. I've had half a dozen copies in the past three years and of the ones I can think of, four were not returned and two were. I anticipate needing to send out two more this year.

In your circumstances I'd pop into a local solicitor's office and ask them to do a few certified copies for you. My mother's solicitor charges £25 per certified copy (signed as required on each page).

 

[Lynmax]

I've never even seen the original LPA, my mother's solicitor keeps it and sends me certified copies when needed. I wouldn't want to give the original to anyone even to photocopy. I've had half a dozen copies in the past three years and of the ones I can think of, four were not returned and two were. I anticipate needing to send out two more this year.

In your circumstances I'd pop into a local solicitor's office and ask them to do a few certified copies for you. My mother's solicitor charges £25 per certified copy (signed as required on each page).

That is my plan! I have three copies of each one which I will get certified. But I still object to paying £150
( assuming I can get them done at £25 each) when the original solicitor should have done them properly as part of the fee my mum paid him! Never mind, I just need to get on with it.

I will be making a complaint to that solicitor which is the first step in reporting them and will be asking for the additional cost to be refunded. I am sure he will just ignore me but it starts the process.