Lasting Power of Attorney: the complete guide

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document, created under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, that lets you choose who should make decisions for you if you're ever unable to make them yourself — whether that's through illness, an accident, or a condition such as dementia. The person making the LPA is called the donor. The people they appoint are called attorneys.

Without an LPA in place, nobody — not even a spouse or adult child — has an automatic legal right to manage your bank accounts, sell your house, or make decisions about your care if you lose mental capacity. Instead, your family would usually have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a deputy, which is slower, more expensive, and supervised much more closely than an LPA. You can apply for your LPA online today rather than leave this to chance.

Who can make an LPA?

To make an LPA you must be 18 or over, and you must have mental capacity at the time you sign it — meaning you understand what the document does, who you're appointing, and what powers you're giving them. There is no upper age limit, and you don't need to be ill or elderly; in fact, the best time to make an LPA is well before you ever need one.

Mental capacity and why it matters

Mental capacity means being able to understand, retain, weigh up and communicate a decision. It's assessed decision-by-decision and can fluctuate — someone with early-stage dementia might have capacity to make an LPA even though their capacity for other decisions is declining. This is precisely why solicitors and charities alike recommend making an LPA as early as possible: once capacity is lost, the option disappears.

The two types of LPA

There are two separate LPAs, covering different areas of your life. Most people are advised to make both, since they cover entirely different decisions.

See our full breakdown of types of LPA and how they differ, or head straight to apply for both LPAs if you already know you want the full picture covered.

Attorneys: who can act, and how many

An attorney must be 18 or over and, for financial decisions, must not be an undischarged bankrupt. Most people choose a spouse, partner, adult child, sibling or close friend. You can appoint more than one attorney, and you decide how they must act:

• Jointly — all attorneys must agree on every decision together.
• Jointly and severally — attorneys can act together or independently, whichever is more practical.
• Jointly for some decisions, jointly and severally for others — a mixed approach for specific matters you want extra oversight on.

There's no legal limit on how many attorneys you appoint, but three or four is a practical maximum before decisions become unwieldy. You should think carefully about how well your chosen attorneys work together, particularly if you choose 'jointly'.

Replacement attorneys

A replacement attorney steps in only if an original attorney can no longer act — for example if they die, lose capacity themselves, or resign. Appointing at least one replacement attorney is sensible, particularly if you've only appointed one original attorney, since without a replacement the LPA can fail entirely if that person becomes unavailable.

The certificate provider

Every LPA needs a certificate provider — an independent person who confirms that you understand the LPA and are not being pressured into making it. They can either be someone who has known you personally for at least two years, or a professional (such as a GP, solicitor, or social worker) who assesses you for the purpose. A certificate provider cannot be a family member, an attorney, or a business partner of yours — they must be genuinely independent.

Witnesses

Each signature on the LPA must be witnessed. The donor's signature needs an independent witness (who cannot be an attorney), and each attorney's signature also needs a witness (who can be another attorney, but not the donor). The witness confirms they saw the signature being made — they are not vouching for your mental capacity, that's the certificate provider's role.

Preferences and instructions

You can add preferences (things you'd like your attorneys to bear in mind, which aren't legally binding — for example, a wish to stay in your own home as long as possible) and instructions (things your attorneys must legally follow, such as a restriction on selling a particular asset without agreement). Instructions need to be worded carefully: vague or contradictory wording is one of the most common reasons an LPA gets returned by the OPG for correction.

People to notify

You can choose people — separate from your attorneys — who must be told when the LPA is being registered, giving them the chance to raise an objection if they have concerns. This is optional but adds an extra layer of oversight, particularly useful if you have only appointed one attorney with no witnesses of your own choosing involved in the process.

Registering an LPA with the OPG

An LPA has no legal effect until it's registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Registration involves submitting the signed forms (or applying online via the OPG's own service) along with the £92 fee per LPA, and then waiting out a statutory period during which people to notify can object. The OPG checks the paperwork is correctly completed and signed in order — it does not check whether your choice of attorney is a good one, so choosing wisely matters more than any form-filling.

What an LPA costs

There are two separate costs to understand, and they are never combined into one fee anywhere:

So preparing and registering both LPAs typically costs £79 plus £184 (2 × £92) in OPG fees — considerably less than most solicitor quotes. See our full LPA cost guide for fee remissions and exemptions, or find out more about our fixed-fee LPA service.

How long does it take?

Preparing your answers online takes most people well under an hour. After that, printing, signing in the correct order and posting to the OPG is the slower part. Once submitted, OPG registration typically takes around 8 weeks, and includes a 4-week statutory waiting period during which anyone notified can raise an objection. Delays are common where forms contain errors, so getting the paperwork right the first time genuinely speeds things up.

When does an LPA take effect?

• Health & Welfare LPA — only once you've lost mental capacity to make the relevant decision yourself. It can never be used while you can still decide for yourself.
• Property & Financial Affairs LPA — can be used as soon as it's registered, if you choose to allow that, or restricted to only being used once you lack capacity.

Changing or cancelling an LPA

While you still have mental capacity, you can cancel (formally, revoke) an LPA at any time by completing a deed of revocation and notifying the OPG and your attorneys. You cannot simply amend a registered LPA — if your circumstances change (for example, an attorney needs to be added), you generally need to revoke the existing one and make a new one, provided you still have capacity to do so.

If an attorney dies or can no longer act

If you appointed attorneys to act jointly and severally, the LPA usually continues with the remaining attorneys. If they were appointed to act jointly, the loss of one attorney can end the LPA entirely unless a replacement attorney was named to step in. This is one of the strongest reasons to think carefully about how your attorneys are appointed to act, and to name at least one replacement.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Signing in the wrong order — the donor must sign before the certificate provider, and attorneys must sign after the certificate provider.
• Dates that aren't in the correct sequence across signature sections.
• Choosing a certificate provider who doesn't meet the independence rules.
• Instructions worded in a way that can't legally be given effect.
• Missing continuation sheets where extra attorneys or notified people are listed.

We check every application for these common completion errors before you print and sign, though we can't guarantee the OPG will never raise a query — see our apply for LPA page for how the process works step by step.

LPA vs an ordinary (general) power of attorney

An ordinary or general power of attorney is a much simpler document, often used for a fixed period — for example, while you're abroad or in hospital for a short time. Crucially, it becomes invalid the moment you lose mental capacity, which is the opposite of what most people actually need. An LPA is specifically designed to keep working once capacity is lost, which is why it's the right document for long-term planning.

LPA vs deputyship and the Court of Protection

If someone loses mental capacity without an LPA in place, their family has no automatic authority to act for them. The only route is to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a deputy — a court-supervised role that involves a more complex application, ongoing annual reporting, a bond (a form of insurance), and typically far higher costs than an LPA.