Do it yourself LPA

You are allowed to complete an LPA entirely yourself — no solicitor is required by law. The catch is that the Office of the Public Guardian will reject a form with errors, and the most common errors are in wording and signing order rather than anything obvious. Doing it yourself is genuinely free beyond the £92 registration fee; doing it well takes care.

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

Start your LPA

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

The three ways people do this

Route	Cost to prepare	You handle
Fully DIY on the official forms	£0	Every decision, all wording, all signing order
Guided online (our service)	£49 per LPA, £79 both	The decisions; we handle wording and order
Solicitor	Commonly £300-£800+ per LPA	Almost nothing

All three produce the same statutory document. The Office of the Public Guardian charges the same £92 to register each LPA whichever route you take. See what an LPA costs for the full picture.

What actually goes wrong on DIY forms

Signing in the wrong order — the donor must sign before the attorneys
A relative used as certificate provider, which invalidates the certificate
An attorney witnessing the donor's signature, which is not permitted
Instructions written as binding when they were meant as preferences
Instructions that contradict the appointment type, or the life-sustaining treatment choice
Attorneys appointed jointly with no replacement, so the LPA fails if one cannot act
Missing initials, dates or continuation sheets

A rejection costs time, not just money

The OPG will usually let you correct and resubmit, but the process starts again — including the four-week notice period. Where capacity is declining, that delay is the real risk.

A worked example of a DIY rejection

Alan filled in his own LP1F and asked his sister to act as certificate provider, since she had known him longest. The OPG rejected the application: a sibling is treated as a relative and cannot certify. Alan had to find a qualifying neighbour, redo section 10, and get everyone to re-sign in order. The reset cost him roughly six weeks against a diagnosis that made every week matter.

The GOV.UK route, step by step

Go to GOV.UK and start the 'Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney' service, or order the paper LP1F and LP1H forms by post
Decide which type or types you need — Property & Financial Affairs, Health & Welfare, or both
Enter the donor's details, then each attorney's full name, address and date of birth
Choose how attorneys act together: jointly, jointly and severally, or jointly for some decisions and severally for others
Write any preferences (guidance, not binding) and instructions (binding restrictions) if you want them — leave both blank if you do not
Choose a certificate provider who is not a relative, business partner or attorney, and who has known the donor at least two years or has relevant professional skill
Decide whether to name people to notify on form LP3, or skip this and use two certificate providers instead
Print the completed forms, or have the paper ones ready, and follow the exact signing order the guidance sets out
Post the signed original forms with form LP2 and the £92 registration fee per LPA to the Office of the Public Guardian

GOV.UK's own tool is free and produces a legally identical document to any paid service. What it does not do is check your specific answers for the errors that commonly cause rejection — that is a manual read-through you do yourself.

Do it yourself (GOV.UK) vs guided vs solicitor, side by side

	GOV.UK, fully DIY	Guided online (us)	Solicitor
Who answers the questions	You, alone	You, with plain English prompts	You, in conversation with them
Who checks for common errors	No one, unless you re-read carefully	Built into the process	The solicitor
Cost to prepare	£0	£49 / £79 both	Commonly £300-£600+ per LPA
OPG registration fee	£92 per LPA	£92 per LPA	£92 per LPA
Legal advice on your circumstances	No	No	Yes
Time to complete the questions	30-90 minutes	20-60 minutes	One or more appointments

The middle option

We ask the questions the LP1F and LP1H need in plain English, check your answers for the common completion errors as you go, and produce your documents with a signing guide naming every signatory, page and the order to sign in. £49 per LPA, £79 for both.

See make a Lasting Power of Attorney online for how the process works end to end, or how it works for the mechanics of each step.

Common questions

Is a DIY LPA as valid as a solicitor's?

Yes. Validity depends on the statutory requirements being met, not on who prepared the form.

Can I switch from DIY to your service part way?

Yes. Answering our questions from scratch takes most people under an hour, and nothing is payable until you review it.

What happens to money spent on DIY forms if I switch?

Nothing — the official forms and guidance notes are free from GOV.UK, so switching loses you time, not money.

Can I do the LP1F myself and use a solicitor for the LP1H, or the other way round?

Yes. There is no rule that both documents must be prepared the same way — you can mix DIY, guided or solicitor-drafted as suits each one.

Does the OPG tell me exactly what was wrong if it rejects a DIY form?

It sends a rejection letter identifying the section, but not always in plain language — which is why re-reading the guidance notes carefully before submitting matters more than fixing errors afterwards.

Is it harder to do the Health and Welfare LPA yourself than the Property and Financial one?

The forms follow the same structure, but the Health and Welfare LP1H includes the life-sustaining treatment decision, which people often leave blank by accident rather than by choice — worth reading twice.

Where this fits

This page is part of LPA costs and fees. The pages below take it further.

What an LPA costs in 2026
Our £49 and £79 prices, the £92 OPG registration fee, and solicitor comparisons.
Solicitor, GOV.UK or online?
An honest comparison, including when you genuinely should pay a solicitor.

See the full cost before you commit

£49 per LPA, £79 for both, plus the £92 the Office of the Public Guardian charges to register each one.

Check prices and start