Where do I get a certificate to proove I have LPA

[Lindyloo17]

Please be gentle with me ..this is all very new.

Mum and dad used a solicitor to register me at LPA for both health and Wealth.
Solicitor sent me a letter months ago to say the forms have been sent to the Office of the Public Guardian for registation.

I went into the bank and they need a certificate ?
Can you advise if I should have been sent one by now ?
8 months after solicitors letter.
It's only just happened that I need to start using my power and pay parents bills etc. .

Any advice would be fab. Thank you

 

[jenniferpa]

Your parents solicitor should have the original copies of the LPA. You will need at least one certified copy (which is what the bank is asking for). Certified copy rather than the original because if at all possible you should never hand over the original. If your do (and even with the copy) and they give it straight back, make sure they have returned every single page. The solicitor can make the certified copy(s) but check to see how much they charge first. Frankly I feel this should have been part of the original agreement your parents had with the solicitor but you will have to check,

 

[marionq]

The solicitor sent my daughter and myself copies as soon as they arrived back from being registered. Your solicitor has been lax by the sound of it.

 

[YorkshireLass]

Please be gentle with me ..this is all very new.

Mum and dad used a solicitor to register me at LPA for both health and Wealth.
Solicitor sent me a letter months ago to say the forms have been sent to the Office of the Public Guardian for registation.

I went into the bank and they need a certificate ?
Can you advise if I should have been sent one by now ?
8 months after solicitors letter.
It's only just happened that I need to start using my power and pay parents bills etc. .

Any advice would be fab. Thank you

Hi Lindyloo, I have LPAs for my mum. It can take a while (several weeks) for the registration at the Office of Public Guardianship (OPG). In my case the original was sent to the solicitor and she sent me a certified copy of both. The solicitor holds the original. As everyone you deal with wants their own copy when you go to the bank (GP, Electricity company, DWP etc) they usually photocopy the 15+ pages. That's OK if you see them in person but I decided to photocopy my copy if I needed to post the document. It is returned but you never know. It's difficult to understand after you have registered the LPA at the OPG why this information is not held electronically. It would speed up things so much and stop all the storage of paper copies.Don't leave your copy with anyone for them to copy it later. As others have said the solicitor holds the original so you could always get another certified copy but I imagine it wouldn't be free.

 

[witts1973]

When I got to this stage,the copy that I had was a photo copied version,I had to go to the solicitor and paid £15 and she stamped every page and signed it in wet ink,this was done the same day.
Next thing to do is contact the bank,I live in a very small town so asked at the big branch in the town next door and made an appointment with somebody that knows how to handle LPA's this too about a week with no issues,the next thing was to send off the LPA to utility companies etc,with a cover note explaining that the original copy was not to be kept by them as they could photo copy or scan it,they tend to remove the staples when scanning and it was sent back loose by one company so in future cover notes I asked them to re staple the document for me as it's quite thick and I most people probably haven't got a suitable large stapler like that at home.
I ordered 2 signed copies to speed up the process of contacting companies as I could send out 2 at a time

 

[Bod]

The original LPA forms that were filled out and sent to the Office of the Public Guardian to be registered are returned with the word "VALIDATE" perforated at the bottom of every page.
There will be many pages, dependant on which sections were filled.
For Banks, take this to your local branch(!) who will copy for their purposes. For Government dept's, go to your local Job Centre, who will copy and stamp for sending to DWP etc.
Post Office, again your local main office will copy for their own needs.
Private pension firms have their own requirements, and may or may not accept photocopies.
By now you will have counted out and back the number of pages many times, but you must not lose the original as it cannot be replaced.

Bod

 

[Sirena]

The solicitor won't necessarily automatically send you a copy of the LPA, it depends what was requested by your parents. My mother did an LPA and the solicitor was instructed to hold onto it until she told him to release it to me. At that point, he asked me how many certified copies I needed, and he kept the original and sent me copies. They were £25 each. If you have to pay upfront for copies, claim the costs back from your parents' bank account.

 

[Lindyloo17]

Thank you so much everyone.
All your info has been so helpful

 

[Lynmax]

Unfortunately not all solicitors are thorough in their dealings and can neglect their responsibilities - in my opinion anyway! My mum used a solicitor at great expense to arranger her LPAs and he agreed at our initial meeting to keep the original and provide certified copies for mum and the three attorneys. What he actually did was type mums name incorrectly, thus delaying the registration while it was corrected and then send mum the original and us three attorneys copies with only the front page stamped and signed. He then told us that he had no idea where the original was ( luckily my sister found it under mums bed) and that we only needed the front page certified! He then wanted to charge £5 per page to certify which for three copies of the two types of LPA would have been astronomical! I am now at the stage of making a formal complaint about his mismanagement and lies he has made. Just be careful!

 

[judyri]

I'm just discovering that different organisations require different wording for the certification, which is a complete pain. Where you can't take the original in person, it's a time saver to check before posting that they'll actually accept the copy you're sending. I've just now ordered my third differently certified copy ...