A British family living in France may discover an old Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) in a drawer only when the donor can no longer manage a bank account, pay a French tax bill or instruct a care provider. That discovery creates two separate questions. First, is the document still a valid England-and-Wales EPA, and has it been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) at the right time? Secondly, even if the UK document is valid, what will a French bank or public body require before allowing the attorney to act?

An EPA is not the same as a modern Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), and it is not the same as the French mandat de protection future, meaning a future-protection mandate. An EPA could only be made before 1 October 2007 and concerns property and financial affairs. A French institution may need to examine its date, signatures, registration status, scope, translation, authentication and compatibility with the particular transaction. Brexit did not turn a valid document into an invalid one, but it did not create a universal right to use an England-and-Wales form in France either.

This article gives a practical legal route for an attorney dealing with a British donor habitually resident in France. It focuses on registration after loss of capacity, presentation to a French bank and remedies when authority is refused or challenged. It does not deal with purchasing French property, setting up a company or the distribution of an estate after death. Those matters may require separate advice on conveyancing, company law, succession and tax.

I. Can an old UK Enduring Power of Attorney still be used in France after Brexit?

A. Was the EPA valid, and when must it be registered in the UK?

An Enduring Power of Attorney is a legacy instrument from the law of England and Wales. It allowed a donor, meaning the person granting the authority, to appoint an attorney to manage property and financial affairs. The instrument was replaced by the property-and-financial-affairs LPA on 1 October 2007. The official GOV.UK guidance on checking an EPA states that “Only EPAs made and signed before October 1, 2007 can still be used.” The date is therefore the first filter. A document signed on or after that date is not an old EPA simply because it uses the word “enduring”; it needs to be identified under the law that created it.

The England-and-Wales instrument must also have been made correctly. The same GOV.UK guidance says that the donor had to be at least 18 and able to make their own decisions, that the donor had to sign in the presence of a witness who was not one of the attorneys, and that all attorneys had to sign. The proposed attorneys also had to be at least 18 and not bankrupt when the EPA was made. The original document should be checked page by page. Look for the donor’s signature, the witness details, each attorney’s acceptance, the date, any restrictions and any pages that appear to have been altered after signature.

Jurisdiction matters. An England-and-Wales EPA is not a Scottish continuing power of attorney and is not a Northern Irish enduring power. The donor’s address in France does not change the legal system under which the UK document was created. If the document was made in Scotland, the Scottish regime and the Scottish public authority must be checked. If it was made in Northern Ireland, the Northern Irish system must be checked. A French bank should not be given an unexplained label such as “UK power of attorney”; the file should say precisely where the instrument was made and which authority registered it.

An EPA is limited to money and property. It cannot be used as a substitute for a health-and-welfare LPA. It may concern bank accounts, investments, pensions, tax correspondence, bills and property administration, but the actual wording still controls the attorney’s powers. It may appoint attorneys jointly, jointly and severally, or subject to instructions. It may restrict borrowing, gifts, investments or the sale of an asset. A bank will be entitled to ask whether the proposed operation falls within those words. A document that says “all my property and affairs” still has to be read with the statutory rules and the nature of the operation.

While the donor has mental capacity, an attorney may be able to use an EPA without UK registration, subject to the document and the donor’s agreement. That is not the same position after incapacity. The official GOV.UK guidance on using or cancelling an EPA states that, if the donor loses mental capacity, the attorney “must register the EPA to start or continue using it”. The word “must” is important in a French case. A French bank seeing only an unregistered EPA may reasonably question whether the attorney is entitled to act once the donor can no longer give instructions.

Registration is a process rather than a rubber stamp. The attorney gives the prescribed notice to the donor and the relevant people, then sends the registration application to the OPG. The official registration page says the application is for a donor who “has lost or is losing mental capacity” and requires the original EPA or a certified copy if the original has been lost. The attorney should keep the notice evidence, the application, the medical evidence requested by the form and the OPG correspondence. If a person entitled to object raises a concern, the registration may require further steps or a court decision.

The current official bank guidance is also useful for identifying the UK-side evidence. It explains that an EPA in place before 1 October 2007 can still apply, that it can be used without registration while the donor has capacity, and that it must be registered with the OPG once the donor has lost or is losing capacity. It also says that the bank will need the filled-in and signed EPA, the OPG-stamped original or a properly certified copy, and proof of the attorney’s and donor’s names and addresses. These are not French acceptance rules, but they show why a French bank will usually ask for the complete registered instrument rather than a solicitor’s letter summarising it.

Registration does not enlarge the EPA. It confirms its operative status under the UK system; it does not authorise an attorney to make a gift that the document and the law do not permit, to act for personal welfare, or to disregard a restriction. The attorney should prepare a short schedule identifying the permitted actions, the accounts concerned, the signing arrangements and any prohibited or reserved decisions. That schedule is explanatory only. The EPA itself remains the source of authority.

The attorney must also check whether the donor is still alive and whether the EPA has been cancelled, revoked or otherwise ended. Death is decisive: the attorney’s authority does not continue as a personal power after the donor’s death. The attorney then has to deal with the executors, administrators or French notaire, meaning the French civil-law public officer who authenticates and handles certain legal instruments. A French bank may freeze or change the account mandate when it receives death evidence. The EPA is not a succession document.

There is a further risk where the donor signed several documents. An EPA may sit beside a later LPA, a bank mandate, a trust instrument, a will, a deputyship order or a French mandate. The attorney should make a dated chronology and identify which instrument was intended to govern each institution. A later LPA may replace the practical role of the EPA in the relevant UK system; a French court order may affect what can be done in France; a bank mandate may authorise ordinary transactions but cease to operate when the donor loses capacity. Treating the most convenient document as automatically controlling can create personal liability.

For that reason, the first answer to “Can I use this old EPA in France?” is conditional. If it is an England-and-Wales EPA made before 1 October 2007, properly signed, still in force and registered when the donor lost or began to lose capacity, it may provide important evidence of authority. The second question is whether the French recipient accepts the document for the particular act. That is a separate cross-border assessment.

B. Does a registered England-and-Wales EPA automatically bind a French bank?

No automatic answer should be promised. A registered EPA proves a status under the law of England and Wales. A French bank has to identify the person entitled to operate a French account, comply with its own identification and anti-fraud controls, and determine whether the foreign document gives the attorney authority for the requested transaction. The bank may ask for the original or a certified copy, the OPG registration evidence, an apostille, a French translation, identity and address evidence, and a written explanation of the requested operation. An apostille authenticates the origin of a public signature or seal; it does not translate the document or add a power that the EPA does not contain. For the wider cross-border recognition problem involving a UK LPA, see our general guide to a UK Lasting Power of Attorney in France after Brexit.

The international convention route also requires precision. France is a party to the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults. The French publication of the Convention on Légifrance sets out Article 15. It provides, in the official French text: “L’existence, l’étendue, la modification et l’extinction des pouvoirs de représentation conférés par un adulte, soit par un accord soit par un acte unilatéral, pour être exercés lorsque cet adulte sera hors d’état de pourvoir à ses intérêts, sont régies par la loi de l’Etat de la résidence habituelle de l’adulte au moment de l’accord ou de l’acte unilatéral”. In English, the existence, extent, change and ending of a representation power are generally governed by the law of the adult’s habitual residence when the power was created, unless a permitted law was expressly chosen.

Article 15(3) adds: “Les modalités d’exercice de ces pouvoirs de représentation sont régies par la loi de l’Etat où ils sont exercés.” The exercise of authority is therefore connected with the law of the place where the attorney acts. This distinction helps explain why a valid foreign instrument may still require a French presentation procedure and a French bank’s documentary checks.

But the United Kingdom’s treaty position must not be overstated. The HCCH declaration states that the Convention extends to Scotland only. An England-and-Wales EPA cannot simply be presented as though the Convention gave it the same treaty route as a Scottish instrument. A lawyer must identify the donor’s habitual residence at the date of the EPA, any express choice of law, the location of the account and the status of the United Kingdom territory concerned. French private international law and the recipient’s requirements may still provide a route, but that route must be analysed rather than assumed.

The leading French decision on a foreign future-representation mandate is Cour de cassation, première chambre civile, 27 January 2021, no. 19-15.059, ECLI:FR:CCASS:2021:C100101. It concerned a Swiss mandate, not an England-and-Wales EPA, so it is not a promise of acceptance for every British document. The Court held that a foreign mandate could not be subjected to a French validity condition that the applicable foreign law did not impose. Its official summary says that implementation in France “ne saurait être subordonnée à des conditions propres au droit français”. That is helpful against an argument that every foreign instrument must be rewritten as a French mandat de protection future, but it does not remove the need to prove the document’s authenticity, current effect and scope.

The same decision also shows the importance of separating validity from exercise. The Court reproduced the rule that exercise is governed by the law of the state where the powers are exercised, and accepted that a procedure may verify that the donor’s faculties have been medically altered and fix the starting date. A French bank is not a court registry, but the reasoning explains why a recipient may ask for evidence that the EPA has become usable after incapacity and that the requested operation falls within its powers.

French general mandate rules are relevant but do not turn an EPA into a French instrument. Article 1984 of the French Civil Code defines a mandate as “un acte par lequel une personne donne à une autre le pouvoir de faire quelque chose pour le mandant et en son nom”. Article 1985 says that a mandate may be given by an authentic deed or a private deed, even by letter, and may also be verbal subject to proof rules. Those provisions help a French institution understand the concept of representation, but the EPA remains created under UK law.

The limits are equally important. Article 1987 says that a mandate may be special, for one or several matters, or general, for all the mandant’s affairs. Article 1988 states: “Le mandat conçu en termes généraux n’embrasse que les actes d’administration. S’il s’agit d’aliéner ou hypothéquer, ou de quelque autre acte de propriété, le mandat doit être exprès.” Article 1989 adds: “Le mandataire ne peut rien faire au-delà de ce qui est porté dans son mandat.” These are French rules, not a direct test of the EPA’s English-law scope, but they show why a French bank or notary will look for a clear power when the transaction goes beyond ordinary administration.

Apostille practice must also be kept in its proper place. In Cour de cassation, première chambre civile, 14 April 2016, no. 15-18.157, a case concerning a foreign notary and a mortgage authority, the Court upheld the reasoning that the foreign officer “avait simplement apostillé la procuration à l’effet de constituer hypothèque” and that the form was not equivalent to the French safeguards required for the transaction. This was not a bank-accounts EPA case. Its practical lesson is narrower: an apostille does not by itself establish that the instrument has the substantive form or protection required for a French act.

Another decision, Cour de cassation, première chambre civile, 6 November 2019, no. 18-18.282, concerned Australian future-protection mandates and a dispute about the scope of a court’s revocation order. It is also not an EPA authority, but it is a warning against treating foreign mandates as interchangeable. The Court quashed the part of the decision that revoked powers that no party had asked the court to revoke. In a French bank dispute, the requested relief should therefore identify the precise account, act, document and refusal rather than asking for a vague declaration about every power held by the family.

The practical conclusion is that a registered EPA may be persuasive and may be accepted, but acceptance depends on a complete file and the act in question. A bank’s request for an apostille or translation is not necessarily a finding that the EPA is invalid. Conversely, obtaining an apostille is not proof that the attorney can withdraw money, close the account or transfer assets. The attorney should ask the bank to identify whether its concern is authenticity, translation, registration, scope, identity, tax compliance or a missing internal form. Each problem has a different solution.

II. What should the attorney do to activate, present and defend the EPA in France?

A. Which document pack and sequence give a French bank a workable file?

The best file is built in a sequence. Starting with an apostille before checking whether the EPA is legally usable wastes time and can give a false sense of security. The attorney should create one indexed folder in English and French, with a one-page chronology at the front. The chronology should state when the EPA was signed, where the donor lived at that date, when capacity became doubtful, when the UK registration application was made, when registration took effect, when the donor moved to France and when the French bank first refused access.

First, identify the instrument. Record that it is an England-and-Wales EPA, the exact execution date and the names of every donor and attorney. Compare the original with every copy. Mark whether attorneys act jointly or separately. List any conditions, exclusions, limits on gifts, restrictions on investments and provisions dealing with replacement or death. If the paper is incomplete, illegible or damaged, do not silently reconstruct it from memory. Ask the OPG or the person who certified the copy what official evidence can be supplied.

Secondly, complete the OPG process. If the donor has lost or is losing mental capacity, the attorney should use the official EPA registration forms and notice process. The application page identifies the OPG and asks for the original EPA or a certified copy if the original has been lost. A French medical report may be useful evidence of the donor’s condition, but it does not automatically replace the evidence required by the UK form. The attorney should ask the OPG which document is needed and keep proof that the required notices were served. Acting on an unregistered EPA after capacity has been lost can expose the attorney to an avoidable challenge.

Thirdly, obtain the registered document in a form a French recipient can read. Request an official or properly certified copy that shows the OPG registration status and any stamp, sticker, annotation or restriction. Keep the unregistered original and the registered copy together. Do not staple a translation in a way that hides a page or a security mark. The French recipient may ask for a complete translation by a traducteur assermenté, meaning a translator authorised to provide a translation accepted by French institutions. The translator should translate the operative clauses, signatures, registration annotations and restrictions, not only the first page.

Fourthly, check legalisation with the recipient. The GOV.UK legalisation service explains that a document may be legalised with an apostille when the signature, seal or stamp can be verified. Before ordering one, ask the French bank whether it requires an apostille on the original, on a certified copy, or on a particular certificate. Ask whether it will accept an e-Apostille or requires paper. Legalisation addresses the origin of the document; it does not certify the legal effect of an EPA in France. If the bank wants an authentic French deed or a notarised copy, an apostille alone will not meet that request.

Fifthly, prepare identity and address evidence. Include the donor’s passport or national identity document, the attorney’s identity document, current addresses, evidence of the donor’s French residence and the donor’s account details. A mismatch between the name on the EPA, the passport and the French bank record can stop an otherwise valid file. Explain married names, middle names, transliteration and any change of address in a short note. Provide the bank with the attorney’s French tax identification details if requested, but keep personal information secure and send it through the bank’s designated channel.

Sixthly, describe the requested transaction. “Access to the account” is too broad. State whether the attorney needs to obtain statements, pay rent, pay care fees, receive a pension, set up a direct debit, transfer money between the donor’s accounts, close an account or make a one-off payment. Attach the invoice or deadline when the request is urgent. Match each action to the EPA clause. If the attorney needs to sell an asset, make a gift or sign a deed affecting ownership, ask for a separate analysis before presenting the request as ordinary banking.

Seventhly, arrange the bank’s internal appointment. A French bank may ask the attorney to attend a branch, use a secure video appointment or deal with a central legal department. Ask for the name of the team reviewing foreign powers of attorney and obtain a case reference. At the meeting, provide the indexed pack and ask for a written list of any missing documents. Do not hand over the only original without a receipt and an agreed return process. If the bank keeps a certified copy, record exactly what it retained.

Eighthly, keep the donor’s money separate and traceable. The attorney should not mix the donor’s funds with personal funds or use the donor’s account for an attorney’s expenses without a clear legal and documentary basis. Use a transaction log showing the date, amount, recipient, purpose, supporting invoice and remaining balance. Save statements and correspondence. This is prudent under UK fiduciary duties and also responds to the French rules governing a representative’s accountability. It gives the bank, family members and a court a way to distinguish ordinary administration from misuse.

French law supplies a useful comparison through the mandat de protection future. The protection threshold appears in Article 425 of the Civil Code, which refers to “Toute personne dans l’impossibilité de pourvoir seule à ses intérêts”. Article 477 begins: “Toute personne majeure ou mineure émancipée ne faisant pas l’objet d’une mesure de tutelle ou d’une habilitation familiale” may appoint one or more people to represent them if they can no longer manage their interests. The French instrument is signed as a notarial deed or private deed and is activated through French procedure. It is not a translation of an EPA, but the comparison explains why a French recipient may ask when the power begins and how the representative is supervised.

Under Article 481 of the Civil Code, “Le mandat prend effet lorsqu’il est établi que le mandant ne peut plus pourvoir seul à ses intérêts.” The article also requires the mandataire to produce the mandate and a medical certificate to the registry of the tribunal judiciaire, the ordinary civil court. A French bank may not be entitled to demand that an England-and-Wales EPA be converted into that French form, but the statutory comparison makes the bank’s concern understandable: a dormant or unregistered representation power is different from an operative one.

Do not confuse the French activation route with a request to register the EPA in the United Kingdom. A French greffe, meaning a court registry, cannot replace the OPG. If a French institution says “registration is missing”, ask whether it means OPG registration, a French court visa, an apostille, a bank mandate or an internal compliance approval. Use the exact term in the written response. Much of the delay in cross-border files comes from different institutions using the same word for different controls.

If a French bank still refuses to process a routine payment, send a formal request through its complaints channel. Include the post-registration document, translation, legalisation evidence, identity records and the precise payment. Ask the bank to state whether it rejects the document in principle or needs one missing item. If there is a contractual banking dispute, the bank’s internal complaint route and the relevant banking mediator may be part of the escalation. A mediator cannot create authority that the EPA lacks, so the legal scope should be checked first.

Where rent, care or tax deadlines create immediate risk, the attorney should document the consequence of delay and seek advice on urgent relief in France. A request to a French court may concern a protective measure, an authorisation for a particular act or the appointment of a representative. The relief must be tailored. The 2021 Supreme Court decision on the Swiss mandate shows why a court should not be asked to impose an irrelevant French validity condition on a foreign instrument, but it also shows why medical proof and the date of effect matter.

B. What if the bank refuses, the attorney is challenged or the EPA is too narrow?

A refusal should be classified before it is challenged. A bank may say that the document is not genuine, that the translation is inadequate, that the EPA was never registered, that the attorney’s authority is joint, that the proposed operation is outside the wording, that the donor’s identity cannot be matched, or that the institution cannot process a foreign authority without a court order. Each ground requires different evidence. A generic demand that the bank “recognise the EPA” may produce another generic refusal.

If the problem is a missing apostille or translation, the remedy is documentary. If the problem is that the EPA was signed after 30 September 2007, the document may not be an EPA at all. If the problem is capacity and UK registration, an OPG application may be needed. If the original was lost and the copy cannot be certified, the attorney should ask the OPG and the original witnessing or legal office for an acceptable replacement. If the power is too narrow, no amount of legalisation can enlarge it.

French law places real weight on the limits of a representative’s mandate. Article 479 of the Civil Code provides: “Le mandat fixe les modalités de contrôle de son exécution.” Article 482 states: “Le mandataire exécute personnellement le mandat.” These provisions concern the French future-protection mandate, not the direct validity of an England-and-Wales EPA. They nevertheless illustrate the standard a French judge or institution may apply when assessing whether a representative is acting personally, within the document and in the donor’s interests.

Where the attorney manages assets through a French mandate, Article 486 of the Civil Code says that the representative “établit annuellement le compte de sa gestion”. The accounting principle is a useful discipline for an EPA file too. Keep a French and UK ledger, retain statements, identify withdrawals and record why a transfer was needed. If a family member asks the French judge to intervene, a clear account may show that the dispute is about a bank’s documentary policy rather than misuse of the donor’s money.

If the representative exceeds authority, the risk is not limited to a bank refusal. Under Article 1987 of the Civil Code, a mandate may be special or general; under Article 1988, a general mandate covers administration and an express power is required for alienation, mortgage or another act of ownership; and Article 1989 says that a mandataire may not go beyond the mandate. An English EPA must be interpreted under its applicable law, but a French operation still needs a power that is intelligible and sufficient for that operation.

A transfer to the attorney’s personal account is especially sensitive. It may be justified in a narrow circumstance, but it requires a clear purpose, a clear legal basis and a complete record. A French bank may pause it even where ordinary bill payments are accepted. A gift, a loan to a family member, a change of beneficiary or a sale at an undervalue should never be treated as a routine withdrawal. If the EPA contains no express power, obtain advice before taking the step.

French judicial safeguards also matter. Article 483 of the Civil Code lists circumstances in which a French future-protection mandate ends, including the restoration of personal faculties, death, a judicial protection measure or judicial revocation in specified cases. Article 484 provides: “Tout intéressé peut saisir le juge des tutelles aux fins de contester la mise en oeuvre du mandat ou de voir statuer sur les conditions et modalités de son exécution.” For an EPA, the exact statutory route may differ, but a French interested person can ask a court to protect the donor where the foreign authority is being misused or cannot sufficiently protect the donor’s interests.

That possibility does not mean that a family disagreement automatically cancels the EPA. It means that the attorney should distinguish a genuine safeguarding concern from an objection based only on nationality or language. The attorney should provide the court or bank with the EPA, its OPG status, the translation, a chronology, the donor’s current situation, the accounts affected, the proposed safeguards and the transaction history. The requested order should be limited to the problem: for example, authority to pay care costs, a direction about a particular account or the appointment of a French protective representative if the EPA cannot operate effectively.

The 2021 decision on the Swiss mandate is relevant again. In no. 19-15.059, the Court stated that if the mandate is not exercised in the adult’s interests, authorities of the adult’s habitual residence may suspend, revoke or replace the protection. The decision quotes Article 16 of the Convention and explains that the French authorities may intervene to protect the adult. This principle should not be cited as though it automatically governs every England-and-Wales EPA, particularly given the United Kingdom’s Scotland-only treaty declaration. It is still a strong reason to design a remedy around the donor’s interests and the precise operation.

There may be no satisfactory way to use the EPA for a French institution. That can happen when the date is uncertain, the registered copy cannot be obtained, the document is limited to UK assets, attorneys disagree, the donor’s habitual residence and chosen law create a conflict, or the bank requires a court order. The family can then consider a French protective measure, such as habilitation familiale (family authorisation), curatelle (assisted protection), tutelle (representation-based protection) or sauvegarde de justice (temporary judicial protection), depending on the facts. The least restrictive suitable option should be assessed with the court process and the donor’s wishes in mind.

In parallel, the UK side may require a deputyship application if there is no effective EPA or if the EPA cannot be registered. A French protective order does not automatically authorise a person to operate a UK bank account, and an England-and-Wales deputyship order does not automatically authorise a French bank. Each institution must be told what order exists, which jurisdiction issued it and what decision it covers. Cross-border coordination is often safer than asking one document to do every job.

Practical checklist before asking a French bank to act:

• confirm that the document is an England-and-Wales EPA signed before 1 October 2007;
• check the donor’s capacity at signature, all signatures, witnesses, restrictions and attorney arrangements;
• complete OPG registration if the donor has lost or is losing capacity;
• obtain the registered original or acceptable certified copy, preserving every page and annotation;
• ask the bank which apostille, translation and certification format it accepts;
• provide identity, address, French residence, account and requested-transaction evidence;
• explain the exact power required rather than asking for unrestricted “access”;
• request a written reason for any refusal and keep the complaint reference;
• maintain an account of every payment and keep the donor’s money separate; and
• seek a tailored French or UK court remedy where documentary correction cannot solve the problem.

This checklist cannot guarantee that a particular bank will accept an EPA. It does, however, turn a vague cross-border refusal into a sequence of questions that can be answered with documents and, if necessary, a targeted court application.

Conclusion

An old England-and-Wales Enduring Power of Attorney may still be legally valuable in 2026 if it was made before 1 October 2007, correctly signed, still in force and registered when the donor lost or began to lose capacity. That is only the UK starting point. A French bank will want to know whether the document is genuine, current, translated, properly legalised and wide enough for the precise transaction. France’s rules on foreign representation, the Hague Convention and French mandates help frame the analysis, but the United Kingdom’s Scotland-only treaty declaration means that an England-and-Wales EPA should not be presented on an assumed automatic-recognition basis.

The safest approach is a complete, indexed document pack, a written request tied to a specific account operation, a clear record of the donor’s interests and a prompt response to the exact reason for refusal. If the EPA cannot provide an effective route in France, a French protective measure or a UK deputyship may be more appropriate. The right solution depends on the document, the donor’s habitual residence, the bank’s requested evidence and the urgency of the decision.

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