Lpa registered after death

[Dowhatsright]

Good morning

Can anyone help, I did a LPA check for my late mother, due to trying to sort out her estate and found there are two LPAs.The property &finance I knew nothing about and the date it was registered was 16.01.2024, which is strange as my mother passed December 2023.
I have had it double check and the date is correct.

Thanks

[PallasAthena]

A Lasting Power of Attorney is terminated by the death of the donor and cannot then be registered or used. Someone may have registered it illegally after your mother's death but more likely the LPA was sent to the OPG to be registered before your mother died but delays at the OPG meant they didn't actually register it until later, not knowing that she had died in the meantime. OPG say it can take up to 20 weeks from when they receive it to complete registration.

It is a requirement that the death of the donor is reported to the OPG. At her death legal power to manage her finances passed to the Executors and the attorneys named in the LPA cannot use it.

"The lasting power of attorney (LPA) ends when the donor dies. You must report the death of a donor to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG)."

Lasting power of attorney: acting as an attorney: Changes you need to report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As Executor you can and should report her death to the OPG. They will want the LPAs (and any certified copies) back to cancel them but I assume they have some sort of process for what happens if the documents can't be found so report it anyway.

So you weren't an Attorney or Replacement Attorney yourself?

[Dowhatsright]

Hi no, everything was done behind my back by the other executor. He put himself as sole attorney.

[PallasAthena]

If he registered it knowing your mother was no longer alive he's done something illegal.

But in any case the LPA is now invalid and cannot used. Any of the Executors can notify the OPG so I suggest you do so if you are concerned about misuse. OPG will probably write to the Attorney and tell him it is being cancelled and ask him to return the original documents.

On the link I put upthread there's the email address of OPG customer services. Send them a copy of the Death Certificate and the grant of Probate (if you have it yet) and go forward from there.

[Dowhatsright]

OK I will do that. Thank you

[Dowhatsright]

Hi I found out that the LPA was applied for sometime in August 2023 but due to the 20 week processing time, it was not registered until January 2024.
So my question now is this, would the LPA have been valid while it was waiting to be registered ?

[PallasAthena]

A finace/property LPA in England is not valid until it has been registered. And in practice an Attorney would not be able to use their power of attorney until the registered document was returned to them by the Office of the Public Guardian because they would have nothing to show they were an attorney under an LPA.