Lasting Power of Attorney for elderly parents
The document belongs to your parent, not to you. Your job is to raise it early, help with the admin, and avoid the two things that cause trouble later: leaving it too late, and appointing siblings in a way that guarantees deadlock.
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.
Is an LPA still possible for your relative?
Only the person themselves can make an LPA, and only while they have mental capacity. Start here.
They have capacity and want to make one
You can help with every part of the paperwork. They make the decisions and sign.
You are not sure whether they have capacity
Capacity is decision-specific and a diagnosis alone does not settle it. Read how it is judged before you spend anything.
They have already lost capacity
An LPA can no longer be made — not by us and not by anyone else. The route is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection.
How to raise it
- Anchor it to something ordinary — a hospital appointment, a bank problem, your own LPA.
- Make it mutual: many families do the parents' and the children's at the same time.
- Frame it as choosing who decides, rather than as giving up control.
- Do it while it is easy. Capacity is the deadline and it does not announce itself.
Siblings: the appointment decision
| Appointment | What it means | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Jointly and severally | Any attorney can act alone | Least friction; needs real trust |
| Jointly | All must agree on everything | One disagreement or death can stop everything |
| Jointly for some, severally for others | Big decisions need agreement, day-to-day does not | Must be worded carefully or the OPG will query it |
More on this at jointly or jointly and severally.
If capacity has already gone
An LPA can no longer be made. The route is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection — slower, more expensive, and supervised annually. See what happens without an LPA.
Doing it for both parents at once
There is no discount for volume and no joint document — each parent makes their own LP1F and LP1H, appointing whoever they choose. Most families still find it easier to do all four in one sitting, because the questions are the same and the attorneys are often the same two or three siblings.
| Item | One parent, both types | Two parents, both types |
|---|---|---|
| Our fee | £79 | £158 |
| OPG registration (£92 each) | £184 | £368 |
| Total | £263 | £526 |
A worked example
Margaret and Alan, married 45 years, both in their 80s, sat down with their daughter Ruth one Sunday afternoon. Ruth worked through the wizard four times — LP1F and LP1H for each parent — reusing the same certificate provider (their GP) and the same attorneys: each other, with Ruth as replacement on all four documents.
It took two sittings of about 40 minutes each, plus a single visit to sign everything in front of the certificate provider. The whole family paid £158 to us and £368 to the OPG, and registration took roughly eight weeks.
Common questions
Should we do both parents' LPAs at the same time?
Usually yes. Sitting down once, working through the same questions for both parents, is quicker than doing it twice on separate occasions, and it avoids one parent feeling singled out. Each parent still needs their own documents — there is no joint LPA for a couple.
What does it cost for both parents to do both types?
£79 per parent to us for both LPAs, so £158 for the two of them, plus £92 per document to the OPG. Four documents at £92 each is £368, making £526 in total. Reductions on the OPG fee are available on a low income — see fee exemption and remission.
One parent is more capable than the other. Does that matter?
It can. Capacity is assessed per person, per decision. If one parent is showing signs of decline, prioritise their LPA and do not wait for a joint session that keeps slipping.
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.