Lasting Power of Attorney
Complete Guide to LPAs in England and Wales
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you appoint someone you genuinely trust to make decisions on your behalf, if you're ever unable to make them yourself.
Many people assume a spouse or adult child can automatically step in if this happens. In most cases, that simply isn't true, without a registered LPA, even your closest family member has no automatic legal authority to manage your money or make decisions about your care.
There are two distinct types, covering finances and welfare separately, and understanding both, along with what happens if you never get round to it, is worth doing well before it's actually needed.
What Is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
An LPA lets you (the donor) appoint one or more people (your attorneys) to make decisions on your behalf. You choose who your attorneys will be, exactly what decisions they can make, when they’re allowed to act, whether they must act jointly or can act independently, and any specific instructions or preferences you want included.
An LPA must be made while you still have the mental capacity to understand what you’re signing, which is precisely why waiting until it’s needed is usually too late.
The Two Types of LPA
There are two separate types, and most people are advised to make both, since they cover entirely different areas of your life.
Property and Financial Affairs LPA covers decisions about your money, property and financial affairs. Depending on what you choose, this can be used while you still have full mental capacity, or only once you’ve lost it.
Health and Welfare LPA covers decisions about your medical treatment, daily care, and where you live. Unlike the financial version, this can only be used once you’ve genuinely lost the mental capacity to make those decisions yourself.
Each requires its own separate registration and its own separate fee, so it’s worth understanding both properly before deciding whether to make one or both.
Property and Financial Affairs LPA, in Detail
What your attorney can do. Depending on the powers you grant, a Property and Financial Affairs attorney can manage your bank and building society accounts, pay household bills, collect pensions and benefits, buy or sell property on your behalf, arrange repairs to your home, manage investments, complete tax returns, deal with mortgage providers, handle insurance matters, and instruct professionals like solicitors or accountants when needed.
When it can be used. This is the one genuinely flexible part. Unlike the Health and Welfare version, a Property and Financial Affairs LPA can be used while you still have full mental capacity, but only if you’ve specifically chosen this option and the LPA has been registered. Many people use this deliberately, allowing a trusted relative to help with day-to-day financial admin well before any capacity concerns arise, simply because it’s convenient.
Attorney responsibilities. Your attorney must act in your best interests, keep accurate financial records, keep your money entirely separate from their own, follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005, avoid conflicts of interest, and comply with any restrictions you’ve written into the LPA.
Misusing this authority carries serious legal consequences, including potential removal by the Office of the Public Guardian and criminal liability in serious cases.
Health and Welfare LPA, in Detail
What decisions your attorney can make. Depending on the powers you grant, this can include medical treatment, daily care, care home arrangements, where you live, social activities, personal care, diet and daily routine, and, only if you’ve expressly authorised it, decisions about life-sustaining treatment.
When it takes effect. This type only becomes usable once it has been registered and you have genuinely lost the mental capacity to make the specific decision in question. If you’re still capable of making your own decisions, your own wishes always take priority, your attorney doesn’t simply step in because the document exists.
The life-sustaining treatment decision. One choice deserves particular thought when creating this LPA: whether your attorney should have authority over decisions about life-sustaining treatment specifically.
This is a genuinely personal choice, worth discussing openly with whoever you’re appointing, rather than ticking a box without really considering what it means.
Who Can Be an Attorney?
You can appoint a spouse or civil partner, an adult child, another family member, a close friend, or a professional adviser, and you can appoint more than one attorney if you’d rather not place all the responsibility on a single person. Whoever you choose should be someone honest, financially responsible where relevant, organised, genuinely trustworthy, and willing to act in your best interests rather than their own convenience.
You can also name replacement attorneys, in case your first choice is later unable to act.
What Happens If You Don't Have One?
Without a valid LPA, your family may be unable to access your finances when they need to, loved ones may have no legal standing to make healthcare decisions on your behalf, and an application to the Court of Protection may become necessary, appointing someone as your “deputy” instead.
This route is considerably slower and more expensive than an LPA, current figures put a deputyship application at roughly £371, plus an annual supervision fee of around £320, and the process commonly takes 4 to 6 months, compared to a matter of weeks for an LPA that’s already in place.
It also means a judge decides who manages your affairs, rather than you choosing in advance.
How Much Does an LPA Cost?
As of late 2025, the Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 to register each LPA, meaning £184 if you register both types, which most people are advised to do. If your gross annual income is under £12,000, you may qualify for a 50% reduction, bringing the fee down to £46 per LPA. If you receive certain means-tested benefits, you may be exempt from the fee entirely, though it’s worth noting that Universal Credit alone no longer automatically qualifies for full exemption as of February 2026, UC recipients are now assessed for the 50% reduction instead.
Current, exact figures and eligibility criteria are always worth checking directly on GOV.UK’s Lasting Power of Attorney service, since fees are reviewed periodically. If you use a solicitor to prepare the documents on top of this, expect to pay anywhere from around £200 for a straightforward grant-only service up to £600 or more per LPA for full support.
How Is an LPA Registered?
Once completed and signed by the donor, the attorneys, and an independent certificate provider, the LPA needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can actually be used. This can be done through the government’s online service, or by paper application for LPAs already created in that format.
Registration currently takes around 20 weeks, whichever route you use, which is genuinely worth bearing in mind, since an LPA cannot help in a sudden crisis if it hasn’t already been registered in advance.
This is really the core argument for doing this well ahead of time rather than waiting until it feels urgent.
Do You Need a Solicitor?
You can prepare an LPA entirely yourself using the government’s free online service, and many people do. That said, many choose to use a solicitor, particularly where family relationships are complicated, multiple attorneys are being appointed, business assets are involved, property ownership is complex, or you want specific, carefully worded instructions included.
Professional advice can help ensure the document genuinely reflects your wishes and reduces the risk of it being rejected by the OPG due to an error, which can otherwise add several more weeks to an already lengthy process.
Common Mistakes
A handful of mistakes come up repeatedly: choosing an attorney you don’t fully trust, simply because they’re the “obvious” family choice, forgetting to actually register the LPA once it’s signed, giving unclear or ambiguous instructions, failing to review the document after a major life event like divorce or remarriage, and, perhaps most commonly, assuming a spouse automatically has authority to act, which they do not without a registered LPA in place.
Find Legal Services Providers
Creating an LPA is one of the most affordable and most overlooked pieces of legal protection available.
Find a Funeral lets you compare experienced solicitors who prepare both Property and Financial Affairs and Health and Welfare LPAs, ensuring your wishes are clearly documented and your family is protected from an unnecessary Court of Protection application later.
Potentially, yes, if your Property and Financial Affairs LPA gives them that authority and they’re acting genuinely in your best interests, not simply because they’ve decided it’s convenient.
Yes, and most people are advised to. Property and Financial Affairs and Health and Welfare LPAs cover entirely different areas, finances versus care and medical decisions, so having both gives you complete protection.
Only if you specifically choose that option when creating it, and it’s been registered. Otherwise, it only becomes usable once you’ve lost mental capacity, the same as a Health and Welfare LPA.
As of late 2025, £92 per LPA, so £184 for both, unless you qualify for a fee reduction based on income or certain means-tested benefits.
Yes, provided you still have mental capacity, you can generally revoke it and create a new one, which is worth doing after any major life change like divorce, remarriage, or a falling out with your chosen attorney.