LPA for both parents
There is no such thing as a joint LPA for a couple. Each parent makes their own, and each can make two — financial and health. Most families doing this properly end up with four documents, and they can all be prepared in one sitting.
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.
Why it is four documents
An LPA is a personal document: the donor appoints attorneys to act for them. A husband and wife cannot share one, even if they want identical arrangements and the same attorneys.
| Document | Donor | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| LP1F | Parent 1 | Money, property, bills, pensions |
| LP1H | Parent 1 | Care, treatment, where they live |
| LP1F | Parent 2 | Money, property, bills, pensions |
| LP1H | Parent 2 | Care, treatment, where they live |
What it costs for a couple
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Our fee, both LPAs, first parent | £79 |
| Our fee, both LPAs, second parent | £79 |
| OPG registration, four documents at £92 | £368 |
| Total | £526 |
The OPG fee is paid to the Office of the Public Guardian, not to us, and can be reduced by half or waived entirely on a low income or certain benefits. Comparable solicitor fees for four LPAs commonly run into four figures before the same registration fees.
You do not have to do all four at once
Many families start with the financial LPA for the parent whose affairs are more pressing, then add the others. Each LPA is registered separately, so nothing is held up by the rest.
Should they appoint each other?
Spouses commonly appoint each other first, with an adult child as replacement attorney. That keeps things simple while both are well, and provides cover if one dies or loses capacity — which is exactly the scenario in which a couple's arrangements otherwise collapse at once.
Where both parents are elderly, naming a child as a joint and several attorney alongside the spouse is often more practical, because it avoids everything depending on one person's health.
Choosing between siblings sensibly
Where there is more than one adult child, parents often default to naming all of them, or to naming the eldest, without thinking about what actually suits the role. Being an attorney means dealing with banks, care providers and paperwork, sometimes at short notice, so the better question is who is organised, lives close enough to be practical, and gets on with the others.
- Naming every sibling jointly can mean every decision needs all of them to sign off, which slows things down
- Jointly and severally lets any one of them act alone, which is usually more workable day to day
- If siblings do not get on, appointing them together as attorneys can import that conflict into decisions about money and care
- A sibling who lives overseas can still be appointed, but day-to-day banking and care decisions are harder to manage from a distance
It does not have to be every child
Parents sometimes worry that naming one child over another will cause resentment. Being named as attorney is a practical role, not a statement of favouritism, and can be explained to the family as such.
Worked example
Margaret and Alan, both 74, have three adult children: Helen, who lives ten minutes away and manages the household finances, Robert, who lives in Canada, and Jenny, who has power of attorney experience through her own job in banking. Rather than naming all three on every document, Margaret and Alan each appointed Helen and Jenny jointly and severally as attorneys on both their financial and health LPAs, with Robert named as replacement attorney in case either of the other two could not act.
That gave them four documents in total — an LP1F and an LP1H each — completed together in one afternoon. The cost was £79 per parent for both LPA types, £158 in total, plus £368 in OPG registration fees for the four documents, £526 altogether. A local solicitor had quoted them over £1,200 for the same four LPAs.
Edge cases worth knowing about
- If one parent has already lost capacity, they can no longer make an LPA — the only route left for that parent is a Court of Protection deputyship application
- Each of the four documents is registered separately, so one can be delayed by an error on the form without holding up the others
- A parent can appoint a mix of children and a professional attorney, for example a solicitor for money and a child for health decisions
- Reductions or exemptions on the £92 OPG fee are available for parents on a low income or certain benefits, and apply per document
Common questions
Can we use the same attorneys on all four LPAs?
Yes, that is common and perfectly acceptable. Each document still has to be completed and registered separately.
Can both parents work through it together?
Yes. Answering the questions together usually takes less time overall, and the decisions are almost always the same for each.
Do we have to name every child as an attorney?
No. Parents can name one, two or all of their children, or none at all and choose a friend or professional instead. It is entirely their choice.
What if our parents want different attorneys on the financial and health LPAs?
That is allowed. The two LPA types are separate documents and can name different people, which some families use deliberately to split the workload.
Is it cheaper to do all four LPAs together rather than separately?
Our per-LPA fee is the same either way. Doing them together mainly saves time, since much of the information — addresses, replacement attorneys, preferences — is the same for both parents.
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.