An Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint someone to help you manage your affairs.

Provided you still have mental capacity, the attorney can use an Enduring Power of Attorney without registration at the Office of the Public Guardian, unless restrictions are contained in the power to say it is only to become effective should you begin to lose mental capacity.

Should you begin to lose mental capacity then the attorney must register the Power of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian for it to continue to be effective and in force. See the 'important considerations' section.

We encourage you to continue to monitor your accounts while you’re still mentally and physically able to do so, even when you appoint someone else to act on your behalf. If you feel you’re no longer able to monitor your accounts, please contact us for support.

If you or your attorney believe you are beginning to lose mental capacity, either of you must register the Enduring Power of Attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian. If the power isn’t registered and you lose or are beginning to lose mental capacity, your attorney will no longer be able to act as attorney until it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

However if your attorney has begun the registration process at the Office of the Public Guardian; they will have limited powers until registration is complete. In the interim, they will be able to:

• Maintain and prevent loss to your estate
• Maintain themselves (the attorney) or other persons to the extent that you might be expected to provide for the needs of the attorney or other person

More information can be found on the Office of the Public Guardian website.

Enduring Powers of Attorney have now been replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney, but they can still be registered with the bank if they were made and signed before 1 October 2007.

You can appoint multiple attorneys to act jointly i.e. must act together or jointly and severally i.e. can either act together or independently of one another if they wish.

We won’t charge you for registering your Power of Attorney with us.

Please contact our customer services team to discuss the most convenient way to register this or pop into your local branch to discuss with one of our friendly colleagues. Please have to hand / bring these documents with you — they’ll help us speed up the process:

• The original Power of Attorney document. If you don’t have this, please bring a correctly certified copy — signed by the donor, solicitor or notary public on each page
• Where applicable, evidence that the Power of Attorney has been registered at the Office of the Public Guardian
• Account details the power is to be held on
• If you (the donor) are an existing customer, ID(PDF, opens in new window) is required for the attorney only
• If you (the donor) are not an existing customer and the attorney is opening the account on your behalf, ID(PDF, opens in new window) is required for both you (the donor) and the attorney
• Any other relevant information