c. The solicitor?

c. The solicitor?

What about the solicitor who prepares the EPA?  The solicitor should be a trustworthy person having no interest at all in the donor’s property and/or financial affairs.  The problem is: in the event that the donor becomes mentally incapable, the solicitor will not know it unless he/she is a personal friend of the donor’s family.  The donor therefore has to ensure that his/her family member(s) and the attorney know that the EPA is in the custody of the solicitor, so that they can duly gain access to the EPA when necessary.

One further advantage of letting the solicitor keep the EPA is: in case the donor loses faith in the attorney and wants to make a fresh EPA by appointing another attorney, the donor can easily get the old EPA back from the solicitor and destroy it.

Having said that, we have to acknowledge the fact that law firms can close down, and individual solicitor may switch to another law firm or may even pass away (or become mentally incapacitated) earlier than the donor.  The donor has to take these factors into account when choosing the solicitor.