Keily Legal & Wealth Estate planning are making sure our clients in Essex, Billericay, Brentwood, Shenfield, Ingatestone, Wickford, Chelmsford, Basildon, Southend, Harlow, Colchester and even clients that are not ours are being looked after the right way and are getting the updates they need. So for any clients that have taken Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) out in the last few years. This is for you… keily.legal
Most people will recall that from the 1st April 2017, the registration fees for applying to register your Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) was reduced from £110 to £82.
The (OPG) Office of Public Guardian has just announced that the (MOJ) Ministry of Justice has agreed to refund the excess, and has now launched a refund scheme for those who paid a higher fee in the qualifying period.
Who is eligible for the refund?
The refunds are being offered to those who registered an LPA or EPA between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017 who may have been charged more by the OPG than was necessary to apply to register.
During this period, the OPG’s operating costs came down as more people applied for a Power of Attorney and the process became more efficient, but the application fee charged was not reduced in line with this.
So who can claim the refund?
A claim can be made by either:
The ‘Donor’ – The person who made the Power of Attorney i.e you the Client
An ‘Attorney’ – Appointed by the Donor in your LPA or EPA
Keily Legal & Wealth is not permitted to be involved in the application process.
The refund must be paid to the Donor, and only one claim is necessary per Donor, even if more than one Power of Attorney was registered.
How much is payable?
The refund payable is dependent on the date these fees were paid. Your will also receive 0.5% interest. A claim can still be made if you are unsure of the exact date.
Please note: you will receive half of the refund amount below if the fee paid was at a reduced rate or remission.
How do you claim:
Claim online
It will take you about 10 minutes to claim online via the gov.uk website.
Your bank account number and sort code will be required to pay the refund back.
Let us know on our Facebook page how you got on after receiving this information from us https://www.facebook.com/KandCoEstatePlanning/ as it will be good to hear how our information helps you.