Best way to make an LPA online
There are three realistic options: the free official route, a guided service like ours at £49 per LPA, and a solicitor at several hundred pounds. Which is best depends on how complex your affairs are and how much you want checked, not on which is technically 'best' in the abstract.
Make your LPA online for £49
Answer simple questions. We prepare your LPA documents from your answers, ready for the next steps.
- £49 per LPA, or £79 for both types
- No solicitor required for straightforward LPAs
- Plain English questions, one screen at a time
- Save your progress and come back to it
- Checked for common completion errors as you go
- Review everything before you pay
The Office of the Public Guardian charges a separate £92 to register each LPA.
The comparison
| Official forms alone | Guided online (us) | Solicitor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation cost | £0 | £49 / £79 both | Commonly £300-£800+ per LPA |
| OPG registration | £92 per LPA | £92 per LPA | £92 per LPA |
| Plain English guidance | General guidance | Question by question | In person |
| Error checking | You | Common completion errors flagged | Solicitor's own checks |
| Legal advice on your situation | No | No | Yes |
| Signing guide | Generic instructions | Named signatories, pages, order | Usually supervised |
| Suits | Simple affairs, confident form-fillers | Most straightforward LPAs | Complex affairs or disputes |
How to choose
- Confident, simple affairs, happy to read guidance — the official route is enough
- Want the questions asked properly and the wording checked — guided online
- Business interests, trusts, overseas property, a likely dispute, or doubtful capacity — solicitor
No one can guarantee acceptance
What a good service does is remove the errors that cause most rejections. Any provider claiming an LPA cannot be rejected is overstating what they can do.
A worked comparison
Consider two people making the same LP1F. Sarah uses GOV.UK's free tool alone, spends two evenings cross-checking the guidance notes herself, and registers for £92 total. Her brother Mark, less confident with paperwork, uses our £49 guided service, answers the same questions in plainer language with checks built in, and registers for £141 total. Both end up with an identical, valid LP1F — the £49 bought Mark time and reassurance, not a better document.
A third sibling, Elaine, has a farming business with a co-owned property and wants her attorneys' powers spelt out precisely around that business. She pays a solicitor £450 to draft her LP1F, on top of the same £92 OPG fee, for £542 total. The extra cost buys advice on wording that the free tool and the guided service both leave to her: neither is set up to draft bespoke clauses about a business interest, and a solicitor's judgement on that point is exactly what she is paying for.
A decision framework, not a rule of thumb
Rather than asking which route is generally 'best', it helps to ask three questions in order. First: do you understand what each section of the form is asking, or would you rather have it asked back to you in plain language? Second: is there anything unusual about your assets, your family, or your attorneys' powers that a standard form does not anticipate? Third: how much time do you have before you need the LPA in place? Answering these three questions, in this order, points most people to a route faster than comparing prices alone.
| Your answers | Likely best route |
|---|---|
| Confident with forms, nothing unusual, no rush | Official forms alone, free |
| Would rather be guided, nothing unusual, any timescale | Guided online, £49/£79 |
| Anything unusual — business, trust, overseas assets, family dispute | Solicitor, whatever the timescale |
If our route fits
Start online today, then make your LPA online. £49 for one, £79 for both, with the OPG's £92 per document paid separately to them.
What none of the three routes can speed up
Whichever you choose, the Office of the Public Guardian's own processing and the four-week statutory notice period are unaffected by who prepared the paperwork — see how long does an LPA take to make for the full timeline. Price and effort only change the preparation stage, not registration itself.
Signing order and witnessing are identical across all three routes
Whichever route you pick, the donor signs first, witnessed by an independent adult who is not an attorney. The certificate provider signs next, confirming capacity and understanding. The attorneys sign last, each with their own witness. A solicitor may supervise this in person; a guided service gives you a written order to follow yourself; the free route leaves you to work it out from the guidance notes. The legal requirement does not change — only how much help you get to follow it correctly.
- An attorney cannot witness another attorney's signature
- The certificate provider must be independent — not a relative, business partner or someone paid to care for the donor
- Every signature is dated, and the dates must follow the correct sequence
Mistakes that get LPAs returned, whichever route you use
- Attorneys signing before the certificate provider
- A certificate provider who does not meet the independence rules
- Missing pages or continuation sheets left out when posted
- People to notify omitted from the LP3 where they should have been included
- Dates missing or inconsistent between signatures
These are administrative errors, not judgements on who prepared the form. GOV.UK's own guidance and solicitors both flag the same list; the difference between routes is how much of the checking is done for you before you post it.
Common questions
Is a solicitor better?
For complex affairs, yes — you are buying advice, not typing. For a straightforward LPA the document is the same.
Can I compare before committing?
Yes. You see the price and choose your LPA before paying anything.
Which route is fastest?
Preparation time is similar across the free tool and our service, roughly 20-60 minutes per LPA; the slow part for all three routes is OPG registration, which takes the same 8-10 weeks regardless.
Read next
Where this fits
This page is part of LPA basics. The pages below take it further.
- Make an LPA online
The whole journey end to end: questions, documents, signing and registration.
- Solicitor, GOV.UK or online?
An honest comparison, including when you genuinely should pay a solicitor.
Ready to make your LPA?
Choose one LPA or both, then start online for £49 per LPA.
The Office of the Public Guardian charges a separate £92 to register each LPA.
This is general information about Lasting Powers of Attorney in England and Wales. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice about your situation. What we do and do not do.