Financial services staff

Staff working in the financial sector may find our leaflet explaining more about powers of attorney helpful. 

Certificates of registration

We offer a clerical and on-line electronic power of attorney (PoA) registration service. The on-line service is known as EPOAR (Electronic Power of Attorney Registration). After registration we provide a certificate of registration.

Verification codes, V codes or access codes are not issued by this office as these are not required for Scottish Continuing and/or Welfare PoAs.

What does the certificate look like?

From 1 July 2023 a certificate displaying the crest watermark will be issued with all registered PoAs. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the PoA. PoAs registered prior to 1 July 2023 were issued with an embossed certificate with a red seal. This style of certificate continues to be a valid form of legal authority.

The certificate attached to a clerical registration carries the crest on the certificate and all pages of the PoA. Clerical PoAs (those sent to us via the postal service) do not require to be certified as we have seen the original deed and have a scanned image on file.

The certificate issued for electronic registrations submitted via the EPOAR facility look different to the clerically produced one. This certificate has a crest watermark running through it, as will each page of the PoA. It is clearly outlined at the foot of each page that the pages must be certified.

It is important that the downloaded documents are certified immediately as being a true copy of the original by any of the following;

• the granter of the PoA,
• a solicitor,
• a stockbroker,
• a chartered legal executive or
• a person authorised for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007.

EPOAR – On-line Verification

Anyone presented with an EPOAR certificate can go on-line and verify the detail should they wish to do so.  The address is:

https://epoar.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk

• There is no need to register to use this service
• There is no fee for using this service
• To access the relevant information, the end user needs to have the certificate of registration in front of them

What to look out for in a PoA document

There is no standard layout, but the first page of the PoA usually holds all of the key personal details. Look out for the following:

• The name of the person granting the PoA
• The names of the attorneys i.e. the appointed person or persons
• The details specifying how the attorneys are to act. When more than one attorney is appointed, they may need to make decisions together and / or separately
• The type of power being granted i.e. continuing (financial and property) powers and / or personal welfare powers
• A statement confirming when the attorney’s authority is to start. Some PoAs will commence immediately other PoAs will begin when a specific event has occurred e.g. incapacity
• The individual specific powers given to attorneys will be stated in the PoA