Can I appoint my children as attorneys?

Yes, provided they are 18 or over and have mental capacity. Appointing several children is common — the difficulty is never eligibility, it is how they are required to act together.

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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
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Checked for common completion errors as you go
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The Office of the Public Guardian charges a separate £92 to register each LPA.

Appointing more than one child

Jointly and severally — any one of them can act alone. Practical, and the usual advice, but it does rely on trust between them.
Jointly — all must sign everything. Fair-looking, but one holiday, illness or falling-out stops all activity; if one child dies, the whole appointment can fail unless replacements are named.
Mixed — day-to-day decisions severally, selling the house jointly. Effective but must be worded precisely or the OPG will query it.

Awkward realities worth naming

Appointing all four children equally to avoid hurt feelings usually produces paralysis.
One child living near the donor will do most of the work regardless of the wording.
An attorney who is also a beneficiary of the will is not a conflict of interest by itself.
Attorneys cannot make gifts to themselves beyond very limited customary amounts.

One child versus several: the eligible/not-eligible position

Child	Eligible?	Notes
Adult child, 18 or over, no capacity issues	Yes	No further test applies
Adult child who is bankrupt	No, for LP1F	Still eligible for LP1H
Adult child living abroad	Yes	See can my attorney live abroad for the practical issues
Child aged 17	No	Must wait until their 18th birthday
Stepchild, not legally adopted	Yes	Family relationship is not a legal requirement for attorneyship at all
Child who does not want the role	Technically yes	Never appoint without asking first

Worked example: when jointly stops working

Anne appoints her two sons, Michael and James, jointly on her Property & Financial Affairs LPA, wanting them to make every decision together. Five years after registration, Anne needs residential care and the LPA needs to be used to pay the fees. Michael has since had a stroke and lacks the capacity to act. Because the appointment was purely joint and no replacement was named, the LPA stops working entirely — James cannot act alone, even though he is perfectly able to. The family has to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship, a process that typically takes several months and costs considerably more than the LPA itself. Had Anne appointed her sons jointly and severally, or named a replacement attorney, James could have continued without interruption.

Common questions

Can I appoint one child for money and another for health?

Yes. The two LPAs are entirely separate documents with separate appointments, so different children — or a mix of children and other trusted people — can be named on each.

Is it unfair to appoint only one child?

It is a common choice where one child is clearly best placed, whether through proximity, financial competence or willingness. Fairness in an LPA is about the right decisions being made promptly, not equal representation.

Can a child refuse to act once appointed?

Yes, an attorney can formally resign (disclaim) at any time. This is another reason to name a replacement — see what is a replacement attorney.

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.

Making your own LPA?

Name your attorneys, set how they must decide together, and we prepare the forms for £49.

Appoint your attorneys