LPOA question about (Foreign) solicitor as certificate provider

[AwayWithTheFairies]

Words of wisdom please. I’ve just had all kinds of aggro trying to find someone to witness mum’s Uk passport application.

I hate these online forms, I can’t see what I am signing as I fill in each page or what I need to have ready.

Now I find I have to find a “certificate provider” to fill in the online UK LPOA form. She has lived in US for over 60 years and only has relatives in Uk or people who are not professional., or don’t know her well for over 2 years. None of these will work for the LPOA I gather, unless the one who is signing the passport is willing to fib and say she knows her well. I don’t want to ask that of the person.

Can I use her US solicitor, who has just updated her POA for the state she lives in here. I also wonder if and when will he be contacted for the UK LPOA, when it’s registered or when it needs to be deployed? She’s still competent most of the time for most things so I’m heeding all the warnings on here and getting it done now before she becomes incapacitated. Obviously that won’t be free but at least he should do it happily and competently enough, since he’s just done a nearly identical one and has known her for decades.

However He’s pretty old, what if he retires? Or worse.

Meanwhile, in Either country no one official seems willing or capable to make a transatlantic phone call in my experience.

 

[Lynmax]

The certificate provider just needs to be someone who knows your mum well enough to certify that she understands what the LPA is - not necessarily a professional and I don’t remember it specifying how long they need to know the person. In many cases it is a neighbour or friend who certifies their capacity.

To my knowledge, the person certifying is not contacted by the OPG, only those people who are attorneys received any correspondence.. The completed forms sent to the OPG are returned with an official stamp - like a Braille raised stamp on every page. I took mums forms to a solicitor friend to get certified copies made which I used to present to various establishments when sorting our the finances, the original stays in my safe.

 

[AwayWithTheFairies]

Thank you Lynmax. Did you do the online form or the paper one which I think is an option?

 

[nitram]

The online form is only an easier way of producing a hard copy for signatures, it has the advantage that it checks that all entries are completed, digital signatures are not allowed. It can be stored and revisited. You can also pay online for registration when you are happy with the document and download for printing and signatures.

All signatures must be on the same physical document, no copies are permitted, the documents may have to be sent by post between parties.

Because of covid it is possible for the witness to be elsewhere than the donor, this facility will probably cease when all restrictions are removed.

[Withdrawn] Making and registering an LPA during the coronavirus outbreak

If you want to make an LPA now, you can as long as you follow government guidance on social distancing and self-isolating.

www.gov.uk

For newer LPAs certified copies are no longer required, either the donor or an attorney can activate an access key.