Chapter IDG30433
| Published date | 19 March 2016 |
| Record Number | IDG30433 |
| Court | HM Revenue & Customs |
| Issuer | HM Revenue & Customs |
Powers of Attorney which are to continue in the event of an adult’s incapacity are governed by the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. This Act provides for two types of power of attorney: a Continuing Power of Attorney (which covers property and financial matters) and a Welfare Power of Attorney (covering personal welfare issues), although they can be a combination of both. These documents are administered by the Office of the Public Guardian based in Falkirk (for further details on the Public Guardian website
Continuing power of attorney
Amending a continuing or welfare power of attorney
Revoking a continuing or welfare power of attorney
Intervention order
Guardianship order
The person making the continuing power of attorney is known as a granter: the person receiving the authority is the attorney. A granter can appoint more than one attorney. There may be joint attorneys or even substitutes. The names of the persons appointed will be in the power of attorney document.
A continuing power of attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian to be valid and can take effect as soon as it is registered; unless the granter has stipulated in the document that it can only take effect after a certain event has occurred (for example, that a medical practitioner has confirmed in writing that the granter is incapable of conducting their own affairs). If the document has not been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian it has no effect and the granter’s HMRC data should not be provided.
Granter’s are encouraged to have powers of attorney drawn up by legal advisors as the law in Scotland requires that anything stipulated in the document should be strictly interpreted and cannot be in the form of implied powers. The document presented to you should therefore be clear in what the attorney has the power to do.
A continuing power of attorney will be signed by the granter: the signature is likely to be at the foot of the document but, as there is no strict format for continuing powers of attorney, it may be located elsewhere.
Once registered, the Office of the Public Guardian will either send the documenttion back to the sender or, where the documentation was submitted online, will advise the sender that the certificate of registration and a copy of the PAO document can be downloaded. The sender will be advised to ensure that the documents are certified immediately as being a true copy of the original...
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