Why Everyone Should Have A Lasting Power Of Attorney

Everyone should have a Lasting Power of Attorney in place while they still have the mental capacity to make one. An LPA appoints a trusted person to manage your financial affairs or make welfare decisions if an accident or illness leaves you unable to do so; without one, your family must go to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship order, a process that is slow, expensive, and gives you no say in who is appointed. The current OPG registration fee is £92 per LPA, and registration takes 8 to 10 weeks.

Summary

• A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) lets you appoint a trusted person to manage your financial affairs or make health and welfare decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity; without one, even your spouse has no automatic legal authority to act for you.
• There are two types of LPA: a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA, each requiring separate registration with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) at a current fee of £92, making £184 if you register both.
• An attorney appointed under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 must always act in the donor’s best interests and only within the powers the LPA grants; a certificate provider must also confirm that the donor understood what they were signing and was free from pressure.
• The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 received Royal Assent in September 2023 and will introduce a fully digital LPA system with mandatory identity verification; as of June 2026 those reforms are not yet in force, and the current paper-based process remains the only route.
• Registration currently takes 8 to 10 weeks; an LPA has no legal effect until it is registered, which means applying well before capacity becomes an issue is the single most important step you can take.

An LPA is one of the most straightforward documents you can put in place, and one of the most consequential to be without. Many people assume it is something to think about only in old age, but illness and accidents are not age-selective. A 35-year-old involved in a serious road traffic collision, a 50-year-old who suffers a stroke, a 60-year-old receiving a dementia diagnosis: all of them need someone with legal authority to manage their bank account, pay their mortgage, or make decisions about their medical care while they cannot.

The law does not give your spouse, partner, adult children, or any other family member automatic authority to act for you. Without a registered LPA, the people who love you most are legally powerless to help with the most basic financial and welfare decisions. The only alternative is an application to the Court of Protection to appoint a Deputy, which takes considerably longer, costs more, and is an ongoing regulatory burden on the family member appointed.

Obtaining an LPA while you have capacity costs far less in money and stress than dealing with its absence.

What an LPA Is and How It Works

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a formal legal document by which a donor appoints one or more attorneys to act on their behalf. It is created under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and gives the appointed attorney a statutory duty to act in the donor’s best interests at all times. Attorneys can only exercise the powers the donor grants in the document; if a situation arises that falls outside those powers, the attorney must apply to the Court of Protection for additional authority rather than act unilaterally.

There are two distinct types of LPA, and they serve separate functions.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA authorises the attorney to manage the donor’s bank accounts, pay bills, manage investments, collect benefits or pensions, and deal with the sale or purchase of property. Unlike the Health and Welfare LPA, a registered Property and Financial Affairs LPA can be used by the attorney with the donor’s consent even while the donor still has capacity, which can be useful if mobility or ill health makes it difficult to manage finances personally.

A Health and Welfare LPA covers decisions about the donor’s daily care, medical treatment, living arrangements, and, if the donor chooses to include it, decisions about life-sustaining treatment. This type can only be used when the donor lacks capacity to make the relevant decision. Both LPAs must be registered with the OPG before they can be used for any purpose.

To protect the donor, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 requires that an LPA include a signed certificate from an independent certificate provider, who must be someone who has known the donor for at least two years or who holds a relevant professional qualification. The certificate provider confirms three things: that the donor understands the purpose of the LPA and the powers it confers, that no one has put the donor under pressure to sign, and that there is no other reason the LPA should not be registered.

The OPG also investigates reports of abuse and cases where an attorney appears to have exceeded their authority, providing a further layer of oversight once an LPA is in force.

How to Make and Register an LPA Today

To create an LPA you must use the forms prescribed by legislation. The current paper forms are LP1F for Property and Financial Affairs and LP1H for Health and Welfare. Each form must be signed by the donor, the certificate provider, and each attorney in a specific order; an error in the sequence means the OPG will return the application for correction, which adds weeks to the process. This is one of the most common reasons applications are delayed, and it is precisely why using an experienced solicitor to advise on and prepare your LPA is so worthwhile.

To give a practical example: suppose a Nottingham couple both aged 60 decide to put LPAs in place together. They each want both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA. Their combined OPG registration fee comes to £368 (four LPAs at £92 each). Getting the signing order wrong on one document means returning it; with a solicitor managing the process, that risk is removed and the couple can be confident each LPA is executed correctly and sent to the OPG without delay.

Once the completed forms and registration fee reach the OPG, registration takes 8 to 10 weeks if the application contains no errors. During that period, any person named in the LPA as someone to be notified has the chance to raise concerns. Until the OPG issues the registered document, the attorney has no authority to act. This is why it is important not to wait until capacity is already in question: once a donor loses mental capacity, it is too late to make an LPA.

Applicants who qualify may be entitled to a full exemption from the £92 registration fee based on their financial circumstances. The OPG also offers a reduced fee for donors who receive certain means-tested benefits; evidence must accompany the application.

If an LPA needs to be revoked, the donor can do so at any time while they retain capacity. The OPG and all named attorneys must be notified in writing. An LPA will also end automatically in a number of circumstances: if the attorney loses capacity, if a jointly appointed attorney dies and no replacement was named, if a financial attorney becomes bankrupt, or if the marriage or civil partnership between donor and attorney is dissolved or annulled.

Detailed guidance on wills, estates, and trusts services at Smalleys Solicitors covers the full range of private client planning, of which an LPA is a central part. For those who already have a will in place, an LPA is the natural next step; you can also find further information on wills at Smalleys Solicitors and on the probate services Smalleys provides when an estate needs to be administered after a death.

The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 and What Is Coming

The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023. Its main provisions, which amend Schedule 1 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, will come into force on such day or days as the Lord Chancellor appoints by statutory instrument. As of June 2026, no commencement order has brought those provisions into force, and the paper-based LP1F and LP1H forms remain the current legal method for creating and registering an LPA.

When the reforms do take effect, they will produce the most significant change to the LPA system since it was introduced. The principal changes include a fully digital application route that will allow donors to create and register LPAs online, with real-time error checking so that mistakes can be corrected immediately rather than resulting in a rejected and returned application. A paper-based route will remain available for those who cannot or prefer not to use the digital service. The OPG will take over the task of notifying named persons, and mandatory identity verification will be required for donors, attorneys, and certificate providers to reduce fraud. The group of people who can raise an objection to registration will also be broadened, giving the OPG stronger powers to pause a registration where concerns are raised.

Once the digital system is live, registration is expected to take considerably less than the current 8 to 10 weeks. The expectation is that errors caught in real time will reduce rejections substantially and speed up the entire process.

Existing, registered LPAs will remain fully valid after the reforms come into force. Donors who have already registered an LPA do not need to make a new one. For those yet to make an LPA, there is no benefit in waiting for the digital system: the most important thing is to have a valid registered LPA in place, and the current paper process achieves exactly that. Delaying while the digital system is finalised carries a real risk of losing capacity in the interim.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an LPA if I have a will?

Yes, you do. A will deals with what happens to your assets after you die. An LPA deals with who can act for you during your lifetime if you lose capacity. The two documents serve entirely different purposes, and having one does not substitute for the other.

Can my spouse act for me without an LPA?

No. A spouse, civil partner, or any other family member has no automatic legal authority to manage your financial affairs or make welfare decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity. Without a registered LPA, the only route is an application to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship order.

What is the current cost of registering an LPA?

The OPG charges £92 per LPA application for applications received on or after 17 November 2025. If you register both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA, the combined OPG fee is £184. Exemptions and reductions are available based on financial circumstances.

Are LP1F and LP1H still the correct forms to use?

Yes. As of June 2026, LP1F (for property and financial affairs) and LP1H (for health and welfare) remain the prescribed forms for creating and registering an LPA. The digital system introduced by the Powers of Attorney Act 2023 has not yet been commenced and the paper forms remain the only valid route.

What happens if I lose capacity before making an LPA?

It is too late to make an LPA once mental capacity is lost. In that situation, a family member or other interested person must apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship order, which takes longer, costs more, and subjects the appointed Deputy to ongoing annual reporting requirements to the OPG. This is one of the most compelling reasons to put an LPA in place sooner rather than later.

About the Author

This article was written by Deanne Taylor, (SRA number 162250), Head of Wills and Probate at Smalleys Solicitors. Deanne qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and has practised in private client law for over thirty years. She was made Partner at Smalleys in 1996, originally heading the Family Department before moving to specialise in wills, probate and estate planning in 2000. Deanne is a member of the Private Client Law Society and of Lifetime Lawyers, the national organisation for solicitors who specialise in advising older and vulnerable clients. She is a regular speaker at events for older people across Nottinghamshire. Smalleys Solicitors is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 639164.