Lasting powers of attorney
A lasting power of attorney lets you choose, while you are able to, who would act for you if you ever could not act for yourself — in money matters, in decisions about your care, or both.
The two kinds
There are two lasting powers of attorney, and they are separate documents with different rules.
- Property and financial affairs. Covers bank accounts, bills and property. With your permission, your attorney can use it while you still have capacity, as well as if you later lose it.
- Health and welfare. Covers decisions about your care and medical treatment. This one can only be used once you have lost the capacity to make those decisions yourself — not before, whatever the document says.
Most people who make one make both, but you can make either on its own.
What an attorney can and cannot do
An attorney’s authority is real, but it is not unlimited.
- An attorney must act in your best interests, not their own.
- An attorney must keep your money and property separate from theirs.
- An attorney can pay your bills, manage your accounts, and — if you allow it — make decisions about your care and medical treatment.
- An attorney cannot make a will for you, or change one you have already made.
- An attorney cannot do anything the document does not give them authority to do.
Why the timing matters
A lasting power of attorney can only be made while you have the mental capacity to make it. Once that capacity is lost, it is too late to make one — the only remaining route is an application to the Court of Protection for someone to be appointed as your deputy, which takes longer and costs more than making an LPA in advance.
Registration
An LPA has no effect until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. A fee is payable to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration, and we pass this on at cost.
Registration currently takes around 14 to 20 weeks, including a statutory waiting period, as at September 2026. Because of that timescale, most people register their LPA as soon as it is signed, rather than waiting until it is needed.
You can read more about the Office of the Public Guardian at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-public-guardian.
What we do
We advise on who to choose as your attorneys and how many, draft the LPA, and arrange the certificate provider who confirms you understand what you are signing. Once it is signed, we submit it to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration.
Questions people ask
No — an LPA has to be made by the person it is for, and only while they have the mental capacity to make it. You cannot make one for your mother, but you can help her arrange her own.
Yes. You can appoint more than one attorney and decide whether they must act together on every decision or are each able to act alone, and you can name replacement attorneys in case the first cannot act.
An independent person who confirms, when you sign the LPA, that you understand what it means and are not under pressure to make it. They can be someone who has known you well personally, or someone with the relevant professional skills, such as a GP or solicitor.
While you still have capacity, yes — you can remove or replace an attorney yourself at any time. Once capacity is lost, removing an attorney usually needs an application to the Court of Protection.
Not automatically. An LPA made in England and Wales is recognised here; whether it is recognised in another country depends on that country's own rules, so property or affairs abroad may need separate local arrangements.
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