Does my spouse automatically have power of attorney?
No. Marriage or civil partnership gives your husband or wife no automatic authority over your money, your property or your medical treatment if you lose capacity. Without an LPA they would have to apply to the Court of Protection like anyone else.
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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.
What marriage does not give them
- No right to operate your sole bank accounts, even to pay household bills
- No authority over your pension, investments or ISAs
- No ability to sell, remortgage or let a property in your sole name
- No power to sign contracts or deal with HMRC on your behalf
- No legal right to consent to or refuse medical treatment for you
"Next of kin" has no legal standing in this context. Doctors will consult a spouse and take their views seriously, but the decision is theirs, made in your best interests, unless you have appointed a health and welfare attorney.
What joint accounts and joint property actually do
A joint bank account often keeps working in practice, but the bank is entitled to restrict it once it knows one holder lacks capacity, and some do. Jointly owned property is worse: a sale needs the consent of both owners, so if one cannot consent, the sale cannot proceed without court authority.
This is exactly when money is needed
Loss of capacity often coincides with a need to reorganise finances or fund care. That is the point at which a couple discovers the accounts and the house are locked.
How a couple usually structures it
Most married couples appoint each other as the first attorney on both LPA types, then name a replacement — often an adult child, sibling or close friend — in case the spouse cannot act, for example because they have also lost capacity or have died. Attorneys can be appointed to act jointly and severally, meaning either can act alone or they can act together, which avoids everything grinding to a halt if one of them is temporarily unavailable.
Because there is no joint LPA, a couple wanting full cover ends up with four separate documents: an LP1F and an LP1H for each spouse. Each is registered on its own and can be used independently of the others.
Worked example
David and Priya have been married for eighteen years. Their current account is joint, but David's pension and a small buy-to-let flat are in his sole name, and Priya's ISA is hers alone. If Priya had a stroke tomorrow, David could carry on paying the household bills from the joint account for a while, but he would have no authority over her ISA, and if she needed residential care he would have no say in the decision — that would sit with her treating team, consulting him but not bound by his view.
They each made a Property & Financial Affairs LPA and a Health & Welfare LPA appointing the other, with Priya's sister named as replacement attorney on both of hers and David's brother named on both of his. The total cost was £79 per person for both LPA types, £158 in total, plus £368 in OPG registration fees for the four documents — £526 altogether, against a solicitor quote they had received of over £1,400 for the same four LPAs.
The fix, and what it costs
Each spouse makes their own LPAs, usually appointing the other as attorney with an adult child or sibling as replacement. Our fee is £49 for one LPA or £79 for both types, per person. The Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 to register each document.
| Item | Cost for one spouse | Cost for the couple (four documents) |
|---|---|---|
| Our fee (both LPA types) | £79 | £158 |
| OPG registration (£92 per document) | £184 | £368 |
| Total | £263 | £526 |
You do not need a solicitor for a straightforward LPA of this kind, and using one typically adds several hundred pounds per document on top of the same OPG fee. See our pricing, how it compares to a solicitor and how the process works.
Edge cases worth knowing about
- Divorce or separation automatically ends a spouse's appointment as attorney on a financial LPA unless the document says otherwise — it is worth reviewing an LPA after any separation
- If one spouse has already lost capacity, they can no longer make an LPA at all; the only route left is a Court of Protection deputyship application for that spouse
- A joint account may keep functioning for everyday spending even without an LPA, but the bank is entitled to freeze or restrict it once it is aware one holder lacks capacity
- Appointing your spouse as sole attorney with no replacement is the most common structural mistake — if something also happens to them, the LPA has no one left to act under it
Common questions
Does it make a difference how long we have been married?
No. There is no length of marriage that creates authority over a spouse's affairs.
What about our joint account?
It may continue to work, but the bank can restrict it once capacity is in question. It gives no authority over anything held in one name only.
Can I be my spouse's attorney and they be mine?
Yes. Mutual appointments are the most common arrangement between spouses.
Do we need four separate documents?
If you both want full cover, yes — a Property & Financial Affairs LPA and a Health & Welfare LPA each, because there is no such thing as a joint LPA for a couple.
What happens if we divorce after making LPAs?
A financial LPA automatically stops treating a former spouse as attorney once the marriage ends, unless you specified otherwise. A health LPA is not automatically affected in the same way, so it is worth reviewing both.
Is it worth checking our eligibility before starting?
Yes — see choose your LPA for who can make an LPA and who can act as attorney before you begin the forms.
Read next
Where this fits
This page is part of Parents, couples and capacity. The pages below take it further.
- Make an LPA online
The whole journey end to end: questions, documents, signing and registration.
- What an LPA costs in 2026
Our £49 and £79 prices, the £92 OPG registration fee, and solicitor comparisons.
Helping a parent or partner?
They make the decisions and sign, you can do all the paperwork. Start with the free capacity check.
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.