Streamlining Process for Donors to Revoke Lasting Power of Attorney

Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will consider streamlining the process for donors to revoke their Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), such as by automatically cancelling the existing LPA upon the lodgment of a new LPA instead of having to manually notify OPG presently.

The Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is an important legal instrument, which accords authority on the Donee to make financial and personal welfare decisions on behalf of the Donor, when the Donor has lost mental capacity. Therefore, when Donors register their LPA as well as when they revoke their LPA, we have to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place.

To revoke an LPA, Donors are required to submit a notice of revocation to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), to verify that the decision has been properly considered and the Donees have been notified. This also gives the original Donees an opportunity to raise any concerns about the revocation.

We cannot assume that when a new LPA application is submitted, all parties, including original and new Donees are in agreement and hence, have kept the revocation and application processes separate. Furthermore, there is a mandatory three-weeks waiting period after the LPA is certified and before it is formally registered with OPG.

Notwithstanding the need for safeguards, the OPG recognises the need to continually streamline LPA processes to make it more accessible and convenient for Donors. For example, we have recently allowed Donors to submit a notice of revocation electronically via the OPG Online Portal.