EP2 and EP3 Forms: Filing EPA Paperwork with the OCP Belfast

Form EP2: The Registration Application

Form EP2 is the application to register an Enduring Power of Attorney with the Office of Care and Protection (OCP) in Belfast. You file it after serving all the required EP1 notices on the donor and their relatives.

The form itself asks for straightforward information: the donor's details, the attorneys' details, and — critically — the names of every person who was served an EP1 notice along with the exact date each notice was served.

What to include in the package:

• The completed Form EP2
• The original signed EPA document (the OCP needs the original, not a photocopy)
• £189 court fee, payable to NICTS

Send the package by recorded delivery or hand-deliver it to the Royal Courts of Justice, Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 3JF. The EP2's execution date must fall after the date the last EP1 notice was served — if those dates are inverted, the OCP will reject the application.

Fee waiver: If the donor receives means-tested benefits, submit Form ER1 alongside the EP2 to apply for an exemption from the court fee.

Form EP3: When You Need Court Direction

Form EP3 isn't part of the standard registration process — you only need it in specific circumstances:

Dispensing with notice to the donor. If serving EP1 on the donor personally would cause them severe psychiatric distress (for example, a person in the advanced stages of dementia who becomes extremely agitated by legal documents), the attorney can use EP3 to ask the court for permission to skip the personal service requirement.

Other court directions. EP3 also covers situations where you need the court's guidance before proceeding — such as uncertainty about the correct relative notification order, or complications with the EPA document itself.

The EP3 filing fee is £326 — substantially higher than the EP2 registration fee. This is a separate application that the court considers independently, and it will add time to the overall process. Only use EP3 when genuinely necessary; for most registrations, the standard EP1-then-EP2 sequence is sufficient.

Form EP4: Searching the Register

Form EP4 isn't part of the registration process either, but it's worth knowing about. It lets anyone — a solicitor, a bank, a relative — apply to search the OCP register or obtain a certified copy of a registered EPA.

• Register search fee: £33
• Certified copy fee: £17

Banks sometimes request a certified copy from the OCP rather than accepting the attorney's own copy. Knowing this form exists can save time when a financial institution pushes back.

The OCP Process After Filing

Once the OCP receives your EP2 package, the papers are held for 35 days from the date the last EP1 was served (which you've already documented on the EP2 form). A notified relative must lodge any formal objection within four weeks (28 days) of receiving their EP1 notice. If no objections are lodged, a Master of the High Court reviews the application, and the OCP stamps the original EPA as registered before returning it to the attorneys.

The whole process — from filing EP2 to receiving the stamped EPA — typically takes one to two weeks after the 35-day hold ends. Budget five to eight weeks total from the first EP1 notice to the registered document in hand.

For a complete walkthrough of the EP1 → EP2 filing sequence — including a package checklist and date-tracking template — see the Northern Ireland EPA Guide.

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