In our webpage Enduring Powers of Attorney , ENDURING POWERS OF ATTORNEY – PROVIDING FOR YOUR FUTURE IN THE EVENT OF MENTAL INCAPACITY – Morgan McManus Solicitors, Monaghan, Ireland we explained the changes which had been brought about in April 2023 by reason of the enactment of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and, in particular, the requirement imposed by the Decision Support Service (DSS) that Enduring Powers of Attorney could only be completed now where they were done online.
Difficulties with current system
In our webpage (and in an associated article titled EXECUTING AN ENDURING POWER OF ATTORNEY UNDER THE ASSISTED DECISION MAKING (CAPACITY) ACT 2015 – IT WAS NEVER GOING TO BE EASY! EXECUTING-AN-ENDURING-POWERS-OF-ATTORNEY-UNDER-THE-ASSISTED-DECISION-MAKING-CAPACITY-ACT-2015-–-IT-WAS-NEVER-GOING-TO-BE-EASY.pdf (morganmcmanus.com) , we highlighted the difficulties which are now being incurred when one wants to complete an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA).
Objections by the Law Society
We also highlighted the objections which had been raised by the Law Society to the fact that the DSS now required that all EPAs are required to be executed online and, in particular, the fact that an EPA only becomes legally effective when the EPA is registered by the DSS. That is, the documents would be completed online, downloaded and signed online and in turn scanned and uploaded to the DSS website by the Applicant. It would only however be after the DSS had reviewed the signed documents that the DSS would confirm registration.
Excessive Delays
We pointed to the fact that, in many cases where applicants were very elderly, the fact that the EPA only became legally effective when “registered” could mean that an elderly person could become mentally incapable long before the EPA was registered.
The Law Society has demanded a complete overhaul of the new system, stating that the system was working well before the DSS changed it.
Many Solicitors cannot facilitate clients in this new system.
Morgan McManus working in new system
As explained in our Article, we are managing to facilitate clients in this new system by going through the client’s Portal and uploading documents from the client’s portal.
The system however is incredibly slow. To give one example, we uploaded a signed EPA and associated documents to the DSS website on the 30th May 2024. Since that, we have been in contact with the DSS on a number of occasions, enquiring as to when the EPA will be registered. On our last recent enquiry (September 2024) we were informed that the DSS is now “dealing” with Applications which had been submitted in April 2024. This means that they will “deal” with our EPA submission possibly in October 2024 (that is, 6 months later) but does this mean that it will be “registered” in October 2024?
Possibly not!
But the system is in chaos
The system is in chaos. What is going to happen when (and if) more people manage to upload EPA applications to the DSS website. Will it take even longer?
The DSS must revert to the system which was in operation before the enactment of the new legislation. That is the only system which will work. The DSS will not want to give up on its online system, but it brought in this system without consultation with the Law Society or any other relevant authority. When will the DSS listen?
For further information on Enduring Powers of Attorney you should contact:
Brian Morgan
Morgan McManus Solicitors
Web: www.morganmcmanus.com
Email: bmorgan@morganmcmanus.ie
Ph. No.: 00353 47 51011