Can an attorney be a witness?
Guidance from Estate Advisory Group
Written and legally reviewed by Ramani Gill TEP, Solicitor and private client practitioner·Last reviewed 13 August 2026
No. An attorney must not witness the donor's signature. Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons an LPA has to be signed again from scratch.
The rules in short
- The donor's signature must be witnessed by someone who is not an attorney or replacement attorney in that LPA.
- Each attorney's signature must be witnessed too, and the donor cannot witness an attorney.
- Attorneys witnessing each other should be avoided — use an independent witness for each signature.
- A witness must be 18 or over and must physically watch the person sign.
Who to use
A neighbour, friend, colleague or adult who is not involved in the LPA. A witness can be a family member, unlike a certificate provider — this is the distinction that trips people up. Your certificate provider may also act as a witness to the donor's signature.
If it has already happened
It cannot be patched
You cannot cross out a witness and add another. The OPG will reject the application and the LPA must be completed and signed again on fresh forms, with the £92 fee payable again if it was already submitted.
A worked example
Margaret is making an LPA and wants to appoint her son Peter and her daughter Ruth as joint and severally attorneys. When it comes to signing, Peter cannot witness his mother's signature, and Ruth cannot witness Peter's. Margaret asks her neighbour, David, who is not named anywhere in the document, to witness all three signatures. David is not required to read the LPA — he only confirms he saw each person sign — but he must print his name and address next to each signature he witnesses.
Why the rule exists
The point of an independent witness is to provide evidence, if the LPA is ever questioned, that the signature is genuine and was not obtained under pressure by the very people who stand to gain authority from it. An attorney witnessing the donor's own signature would undermine that safeguard entirely, which is why the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) rejects any LPA where this has happened, however well-intentioned everyone involved was.
| Signature being witnessed | Who cannot witness it | Who normally can |
|---|---|---|
| Donor's signature | Any attorney or replacement attorney named in the LPA | A neighbour, friend, colleague, or the certificate provider |
| Attorney's signature | The donor, and ideally not another attorney | An independent adult, or a different attorney's witness |
| Certificate provider's signature | An attorney (if they are also a witness elsewhere) | Any independent adult over 18 |
Common questions
Can my spouse witness my signature?
Yes, provided they are not an attorney or replacement attorney in that same LPA. Many couples are each other's attorneys, in which case you need a different witness.
Can one witness sign for everyone?
One person can witness several signatures, but they must actually be present each time, and they must not be a party to the document.
Does the witness need to be a UK resident?
No. There is no residency or nationality requirement, only that they are 18 or over and genuinely present when the signature is made.
What if we only realise the mistake after posting the LPA to the OPG?
The OPG will return the application with the error flagged, and the relevant pages must be signed again on fresh forms — the £92 fee is not usually charged twice if the original application already included it, but the delay can run to several weeks.
Read next
Where this fits
This page is part of Attorneys and certificate providers. The pages below take it further.
- Make an LPA online
The whole journey end to end: questions, documents, signing and registration.
- The LPA forms explained
LP1F, LP1H and LP3 — what each section asks and where people go wrong.
Review and sources
Reviewed by Ramani Gill TEP, Solicitor and private client practitioner. Last reviewed 13 August 2026. We recheck fees, forms and Office of the Public Guardian guidance whenever they change — see our editorial policy.
Official sources
Making your own LPA?
Name your attorneys, set how they must decide together, and we prepare the forms for £49.
The Office of the Public Guardian charges a separate £92 to register each LPA.
This is general information about how Lasting Powers of Attorney work in England and Wales. It is not legal advice about your situation. What we do and do not do.
Published by Estate Advisory Group