What happens when the donor dies
Guidance from Estate Advisory Group
Your authority stops immediately. Executors take over — and they may not be you.
Immediately
- Stop making decisions and stop using the donor's accounts, including for funeral costs.
- Tell the banks and providers that the donor has died; accounts are frozen.
- Send the original LPA and a copy of the death certificate to the Office of the Public Guardian so the register is updated.
- Hand your records to the executors — they are entitled to an account of what you did.
Who pays for the funeral
Banks will usually release funds from the deceased's account directly to a funeral director on production of the invoice and death certificate. An attorney has no authority to pay it themselves after death, even from the donor's money they were managing.
Attorney and executor are different jobs
An LPA is not a will
Being an attorney gives you no role in the estate. If nobody has made a will, the estate passes under the intestacy rules. See LPA vs will.
Common questions
Do I have to return the registered LPA?
Yes — send the original and any certified copies to the OPG with the death certificate.
What if I am also the executor?
Then you continue, but under the will and the grant of probate, not under the LPA. Keep the two sets of records separate.
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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