1. Before you begin you will need to have the following:

1. A Public Services Card

If you do not have a Public Services Card you will need to obtain one from your local Department of Social Protection Office. You will need to set up an appointment with this office, give them your PPSN and present to them your passport or drivers licence as photo ID. Usually, the Department will be able to associate your PPSN with your address but, if they cannot do this, you might need to provide proof of address, such as a recent bank statement or correspondence from Revenue.

2. A MyGovID account

If you do not already have a MyGovID account, you can set this up yourself or with the help of a family member, and then verify it.
To set up and verify, you will need to log on to www.mygovid.ie and follow the steps.
You will need the following:
1. Your Public Services Card.
2. An email address.
3. A mobile phone number.
4. Your PPSN.
If you are not able to complete this stage of the process on your own or with the help of a family member, we can assist you if you attend at our office and provide us with the necessary information.

2. Then, a myDSS account will need to be set up for you

Once you have a verified GovID account, you will need a myDSS account.
This needs to be set up on the DSS online portal. Again, you can set this up yourself or with the help of a family member. 
To set up your account, you will need to log on to www.decisionsupportservice.ie and follow the steps.
You will need the following:
1. An email address.
2. A mobile phone number.
3. Your PPSN.
4. Details of your myGovID account in order to confirm your credentials.

Solicitor’s Authorisation

If you are not able to complete this stage of the process on your own or with the help of a family member, we can assist you if you attend at our office and provide us with the necessary information.

We will need your signed authority and that of your proposed Attorney to deal with the DSS on your behalf. When we have this, we will be recorded with the DSS as an authorised contact.

Paper Form
You should note that it is also possible to complete a paper application form. We can discuss the options with you and decide on how best to proceed.

3. Setting up the EPA

Once you have your MyDSS account set up and verified it via your MyGovID account we will discuss with you the requirements in regard to completing the EPA application form and setting up your EPA.

Communicate with your doctor
A doctor will need to assess your capacity and sign a Statement of Capacity Form after you have executed the other documents, as set out below.

However, it is important to be clear, in advance of completing and signing the EPA documents, that your doctor is satisfied with your capacity and will be prepared to sign the necessary Statement of Capacity Form. This avoids a situation where you proceed to complete and sign all the forms but the doctor then takes the view that you do not have capacity.
Therefore, you should communicate with your doctor at an early stage and obtain confirmation (even on an informal or verbal basis) that all is likely to be in order from a capacity point of view. This is particularly important where you might have already received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia that might impact on your potential capacity. In such cases, your own GP might not be able to assess your capacity and will refer you to a consultant.      

The EPA Application Form

We will need to meet you to obtain from you certain information under the following four headings.

1. You, the Donor

This is information about you, the person making the enduring power of attorney

2. The Attorney(s)
This is information about the person(s) you are choosing to be your Attorney(s).

If you are appointing more than one person to be your Attorney, you will need to decide how they will work together to make decisions, whether jointly or separately. We will discuss this with you.

You can also decide if you want your attorney to receive any payment.

3. Existing arrangements (if any)

In this section, you need to state if you have any other existing decision support arrangements.

4. Arrangement details

This section is extremely important in in that it sets out the authority you are giving your Attorney and the specific decisions you want them to make on your behalf. We will discuss this with you in detail and you can make whatever decisions you wish in the light of our advice.

Completing the Forms

Once the four sections of the form have been completed and you are happy with what you have included in the EPA, the application form is saved and the 6 documents set out below are downloaded from your myDSS account, printed, signed, and served on the various parties, as required.


1. Enduring Power of Attorney

This is your EPA.

A copy of it will need to be given to:

• your Attorney(s)
• your doctor (who will assess your capacity)
• your notice parties

We, as your solicitors, will review this form again with you before we sign the Legal Practitioner Statement.


2. Legal Practitioner Statement

This is the form that we as your solicitors complete after we are satisfied about your understanding of the EPA.

3. Donor Declaration Form

This is the part of your EPA that you sign in front of two witnesses. At least one of the witnesses must not be an immediate family member of you or the Attorney. We will explain to you the definition of an “immediate family member”, which includes in-laws, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces.

Neither of the witnesses should be an employee or agent of the Attorney.

If you are physically unable to complete the declaration, someone else can sign this on your behalf. They must do this in front of you and your witnesses.

You will have to confirm to your witnesses that you understand and agree to your making the EPA.

4. Attorney Declaration Form

This is the part of your EPA that your Attorney signs in front of two witnesses.

The witnesses to the Attorney’s signature cannot be an employee or agent of the Attorney.

5. Statement of Capacity Form

This is the form your doctor fills in after they have assessed your capacity and are satisfied that you have capacity.

You must ask your doctor or another to assess that you had the capacity to understand the consequences of making the EPA at the time you executed it, in other words, on the date you and your Attorney(s) signed your declarations and had them witnessed.

You must give your doctor a copy of the arrangement and your signed declarations.

The doctor will need to sign and stamp the form, ensuring they have included their professional registration number and contact details.
It is important that there is no delay between your execution of the forms and your doctor confirming your capacity. This especially applies if you have already received a diagnosis of dementia or similar condition.

6. Notice Form

This is the form to be given to your notice parties to let them know about the EPA.

You must tell the following people that you are making the EPA and give them a copy of it as well as the signed declarations:

• Your spouse, civil partner, or co-habitant, if any (special provisions apply in cases of separation which we will explain to you if necessary)
• Any of your children who are 18 years or over
• Any decision supporters appointed under any another decision support arrangement
• Any Attorney(s) appointed under a previous EPA

If you do not have at least 3 people in the above categories, you must also notify at least 2 other people. In these circumstances, the notice parties can include your doctor and solicitor.
 
Uploading and Submitting the Forms

The EPA must be sent to the DSS within 3 months of execution. In other words, within 3 months of the forms being signed by you and your Attorney(s).

After all of the required forms are completed, the declarations have been signed and the notice parties have been notified, the forms, along with the names and contact details of the witnesses and notice parties, need to be uploaded to myDSS.

At this stage the registration application fee is also payable.

DSS Review and Decision

The DSS will then review the application to make sure it contains all of the necessary information, that it meets the legal requirements and that your named Attorney is a suitable person to support you.

The DSS may ask you or your Attorney for more information.

The DSS will then decide whether to approve or decline the application.

If the DSS take the view it might decline the application they will explain why and give you an opportunity to provide them with more information.

A decision to decline can be reviewed.

If the DSS approve the application, they will let you and your Attorney know.

The EPA will then be complete.

Note: It is important to remember that the EPA will not come into effect until your Attorney notifies the DSS that you are unable to make one or more of the decisions included in the EPA.