Your certificate
We will issue a certificate of registration and a copy of the power of attorney (PoA) when the PoA has been registered.
When you begin acting for the granter, you will need this documentation to present to organisations such as banks, pension holder, doctor, dentist, and care home provider etc. to prove that you can act and make decisions for the granter. Attorneys should be prepared to provide this documentation as your powers and authority will be detailed in the document.
A factsheet for attorneys is provided and attorneys should refer to this to help get started. This will be sent to the sender.
If you sent your documentation to us by using the online EPOAR facility
The person submitting the power of attorney (PoA) will receive an e-mail advising that the certificate of registration and a copy of the PoA document can now be downloaded from EPOAR and printed. 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.
If a solicitor submitted the PoA they are likely to have retained the certificate of registration for safekeeping. When the attorney begins acting they will need the certificate of registration and PoA or a copy of them to present to organisations in order to prove that they can act and make decisions for the granter.
The granter will receive a reference copy of the registered PoA, however this is not the copy which the attorney will need in order to use their powers.
If you sent your documentation to us by post
We will send a paper copy of the certificate of registration along with a copy of the PoA to the sender.
From 1 July 2023 a certificate displaying the crest watermark will be issued. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the PoA. The certificate along with a paper copy of the PoA will be returned to the sender in the post. The original PoA will also be returned.
PoAs 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.
If the PoA was registered prior to 1 July 2023 an embossed certificate with a red seal will have been issued. This style of certificate continues to be a valid form of legal authority.
On most occasions the sender will be the solicitor that helped draft the PoA. The solicitor might retain the certificate for safekeeping. If necessary, the granter can request that the solicitor send it to them so that it can be given to the attorney to keep in a safe place until it is needed.
The granter will receive a reference copy of the registered PoA, however this is not the copy which the attorney will need in order to use their powers.
We can issue duplicate copies of the certificate of registration and copy of the PoA.