The most common LPA mistakes
Guidance from Estate Advisory Group
Written and legally reviewed by Ramani Gill TEP, Solicitor and private client practitioner·Last reviewed 13 August 2026
Almost every rejected LPA fails for a handful of avoidable reasons. None of them are legal subtleties.
The big ones
- A relative as certificate provider. In-laws and cousins count as family and invalidate the certificate.
- Signatures out of order. Attorney signing before the certificate provider is fatal.
- An attorney witnessing the donor. Not permitted — see can an attorney be a witness.
- A missing date or signature, often on a continuation sheet.
- Unacceptable instructions in section 7.
- Names that do not match official records, or wrong dates of birth.
- Fee reduction claimed with no evidence attached.
- Section 6 named people but no LP3 sent.
What each mistake costs
A returned application usually means reprinting the whole document and gathering every signature again. Where the fee has been taken, a further £92 may be payable. Add the OPG's processing time and a single error can set you back a couple of months.
How to avoid all of them
- Check certificate provider eligibility before anyone signs.
- Write down the signing sequence and dates in advance.
- Leave section 7 blank unless you have a specific, workable requirement.
- Read every page for blank boxes before it goes in the envelope.
Our service is built around precisely this list: eligibility checks, a consistency check across the document, and a signing pack that tells each person what to do. Start your LPA.
Worked example: a mistake caught in time
Gerald asked his son-in-law, a solicitor, to act as his certificate provider, assuming professional qualification was enough. It is not: a son-in-law counts as family regardless of profession, so the certificate would have been invalid. The error only came to light because Gerald ran an eligibility check before anyone signed, and he was able to ask a longstanding friend instead. Had the forms already been signed and posted, the whole document would have needed re-signing from scratch, with fresh witnesses and a fresh certificate provider — likely another two to three weeks lost.
Table: mistake frequency and how each is caught
| Mistake | How it is usually caught |
|---|---|
| Ineligible certificate provider | Only at OPG review, unless checked beforehand |
| Signatures out of order | Dates visible on the form itself, but often missed by donors |
| Missing continuation sheet | OPG cross-references section 7 against enclosures |
| Fee reduction with no evidence | OPG writes back requesting the missing paperwork |
Common questions
Does the OPG tell you what is wrong?
Yes. Rejected applications come back with an explanation, so you at least know what to fix.
Can small errors be corrected without re-signing?
Sometimes, if they are minor and initialled by the donor. Anything affecting signatures, dates or eligibility means signing again.
Is a solicitor immune from these mistakes?
No — solicitors make the same completion errors as anyone else if a form is rushed. The eligibility rules apply to every applicant equally.
What is the single most preventable mistake?
Using a relative as certificate provider. It requires no legal judgement to avoid — just checking the relationship before anyone signs.
Read next
Where this fits
This page is part of Forms, wording and signing. The pages below take it further.
- The LPA forms explained
LP1F, LP1H and LP3 — what each section asks and where people go wrong.
- Make an LPA online
The whole journey end to end: questions, documents, signing and registration.
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
Skip the blank forms
We ask plain-English questions and prepare the LP1F or LP1H wording from your answers, checked for common completion errors.
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