Is there a prescribed wording for the new incapacity clause?
A. No – any wording which indicates that the granter has considered how their incapacity shall be determined will be accepted. A failure to include wording which indicates that the granter has considered how they would wish their incapacity to be determined will result in the document failing against the registration criteria and thus being returned. The granter is not required to include the outcome of their considerations i.e. they do not need to state how they wish their incapacity to be determined. However, we advocate a reference to this as best practice; but the document will not fail against the registration criteria if reference to ‘how’ is omitted. Such wording is required, from 5th October 2007, in all welfare powers of attorney and in continuing powers of attorney that are exercisable only on incapacity. For ease, the author may wish to include such wording in all continuing powers of attorney; this will be acceptable. PoAs executed before 5th October 2007, even if submitted
