Can I have more than one attorney?

Yes. Most LPAs name two or more. What matters is the next question on the form: whether they must act together on everything, or whether any one of them can act alone.

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The Office of the Public Guardian charges a separate £92 to register each LPA.

How it works day to day

Jointly and severally: any attorney can sign, phone the bank or pay a bill on their own.
Jointly: every transaction needs every attorney, which banks handle slowly.
All attorneys are equally responsible for keeping records, however the work is divided.
Attorneys who cannot agree can ask the Office of the Public Guardian or, ultimately, the Court of Protection.

Registering with banks

Each attorney is usually registered separately with the bank and given their own access. Expect ID checks for each of them, and allow a few weeks.

Eligible combinations

Combination	Allowed?	Comment
Spouse and adult child, jointly and severally	Yes	A common, resilient pairing
Two friends, no family involved	Yes	Family relationship is never a requirement
A solicitor and an adult child	Yes	The solicitor usually charges for their time
An attorney and their own spouse as separate attorneys	Yes	Each must independently meet the eligibility rules
Two attorneys who actively dislike each other	Legally yes, practically risky	Consider whether the appointment will actually function

What happens when attorneys disagree

Jointly and severally does not mean attorneys can act against each other's wishes or contradict a decision another has already made — it means either can act without waiting for the other. Genuine, persistent disagreement about what is in the donor's best interests is different, and if it cannot be resolved between the attorneys it can be raised with the Office of the Public Guardian, or, in serious or ongoing disputes, referred to the Court of Protection. This is slow and can be costly, which is why clear wording and sensible pairings at the outset matter more than trying to fix disputes later.

Worked example: two attorneys, day to day

Priya appoints her brother Amit and her friend Nadia jointly and severally on her Property & Financial Affairs LPA. Once she loses capacity, Amit deals with her pension provider and pays her care fees each month, because he lives nearby and already handles paperwork for her. Nadia, who is better with property, deals with letting Priya's spare flat and renewing the buildings insurance. Neither has to wait for the other's signature to act, and the bank accepts instructions from either of them once both are registered on the account. They speak weekly to keep each other informed, which is good practice rather than a legal requirement — the LPA does not oblige jointly and severally attorneys to consult one another before acting, only to act in Priya's best interests.

Had Priya appointed them jointly instead, every one of those transactions — the pension instruction, the care home payment, the insurance renewal — would have needed both of their signatures, even the routine monthly ones. That would have meant documents travelling between Amit and Nadia every month, and any decision waiting until both were available to sign.

Dividing the work sensibly

Jointly and severally attorneys can informally divide responsibilities — one handles banking, another handles care — without that split needing to be written into the LPA itself.
Both attorneys remain equally accountable to the Office of the Public Guardian regardless of how the work is actually divided between them.
Keeping a simple shared record of who has done what avoids confusion later, particularly if a dispute or a Court of Protection query ever arises.
Attorneys should tell each other about significant decisions even when acting alone is legally permitted, since duplicated or contradictory actions can confuse banks and care providers.

What goes wrong in practice

Two attorneys both instructing a bank on the same matter without telling each other, causing conflicting instructions.
A jointly appointed pair where one attorney is repeatedly unavailable, quietly stalling every decision rather than being addressed directly.
Assuming that jointly and severally means only one attorney ever needs to be told about a decision — both remain jointly responsible even when only one signs.
Failing to register both attorneys with a bank or utility provider, so only one can actually act despite both being named on the LPA.

Common questions

Can attorneys be added after the LPA is registered?

No. Attorneys and replacements must be named when the LPA is made. Adding someone new means making an entirely new LPA while the donor still has capacity.

Do both attorneys need to attend the bank in person?

It depends on the bank and the appointment type. With jointly and severally attorneys, many banks will deal with either attorney alone once both are registered on the account.

What if my two attorneys live in different parts of the country?

It is not a problem for jointly and severally attorneys, since either can act locally. It is more of an issue for jointly appointed attorneys, since documents may need to travel between them for signature.

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