https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/152k-lasting-power-of-attorneys-registered-in-spore-number-is-small-and-more-should-apply-masagos
2022-10-05
SINGAPORE - A total of 152,000 people have registered their Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) as at the end of June 2022.
This number is small and more people should apply for LPAs, said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli on Wednesday.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) in Parliament.
An LPA is a legal document that allows a person who is at least 21 years old (known as a donor) to voluntarily appoint one or more persons (donee) to make decisions and act on the donor's behalf if he or she loses mental capacity.
There are two LPA forms.
Form 1 grants general powers to those acting on the mentally incapacitated person's behalf. To encourage more Singaporeans to apply for an LPA, the $75 application fee for LPA Form 1 has been waived since 2021, and the waiver will last till March 31, 2023.
Form 2 is for applicants who want to grant specific or customised powers to those who will make decisions for them and has to be drafted by a lawyer. The application fee for Form 2 is $200 for Singaporeans.
A record 34,125 LPAs were registered in 2021, the highest number in a year since registrations of LPAs came into effect in 2010.
Figures from the Office of the Public Guardian - a division of the Ministry of Social and Family Development - show that 24,488 LPAs were registered in 2019. In 2020, when the pandemic struck, 21,552 LPAs were registered.
Mr Masagos said: "We should encourage our friends and even ourselves to take up the LPA. Don't take it for granted until the last minute when you need to get someone to handle your legal affairs, your personal affairs, and that someone is not authorised to do so."
LPAs can soon be applied digitally on a new electronic system, the Office of the Public Guardian Online said, which will pre-fill information for applicants, explain legal terms simply, and include videos to guide them.
To get more seniors to sign an LPA and help them to do so, silver generation ambassadors - volunteers from the Agency for Integrated Care's outreach programme - will put them in touch with Citizen Connect Centres, found in community centres islandwide.
The public can also approach these centres or ServiceSG centres - concierges for government services - for assistance. A list of these centres can be found at this website.
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