The LPA Signing Process
Signing in the wrong order is one of the most common reasons LPAs are rejected. This guide shows you exactly who signs, when, and how to get it right the first time.
Last reviewed: June 2026 · Written by Eleanor Whitfield, LPA & Estate Planning Specialist
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a powerful legal document, and the law is strict about how it is signed. The people involved must sign in a fixed order, on dates that run in the correct sequence, and in front of the right witnesses. Get any of this wrong and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will return the whole application unregistered — meaning you reprint everything, gather all the signatures again, and pay the £82 registration fee a second time.
The good news is that the rules are simple once you understand them. This guide walks through the correct signing order for both the LP1F (Property & Financial Affairs) and LP1H (Health & Welfare) forms, explains the witness rules, and lists the precise mistakes that cause rejections — so you can avoid every one of them.
The correct signing order — and why it matters
Every LPA must be signed in this exact sequence:
- The donor (the person making the LPA)
- The certificate provider
- The attorneys
- The replacement attorneys (if any)
This order is not arbitrary. Each person in the chain is, in effect, relying on the signature before them. The certificate provider is confirming that the donor understood the document and signed freely — which they can only do once the donor has actually signed. The attorneys are accepting their appointment, which only exists once the donor and certificate provider have done their part. Replacement attorneys step in behind the originals, so they sign last of all.
Crucially, the dates must reflect this order too. No one may sign on a date earlier than the person before them in the sequence. Everyone can sign on the same day, or the dates can step forward over several days or weeks, but they can never go backwards. A certificate provider dated before the donor, or an attorney dated before the certificate provider, makes the LPA legally invalid.
In plain terms: read the signing dates from the donor down to the last replacement attorney. They must stay the same or get later as you go. If a date jumps backwards anywhere, stop and start that page again — do not post it.
A complete step-by-step walkthrough
The steps below apply to both the LP1F (Property & Financial Affairs) and the LP1H (Health & Welfare) forms. The section numbers are the same on both documents, so you can follow this for either type of LPA — or for both at once if you are making the pair together.
The donor signs Section 5 first
Before signing the main form, the donor completes any continuation sheets — the preferences and instructions pages — if they have chosen to use them. The donor then signs and dates Section 5 of the form. This must be done in front of a witness, who watches the donor sign and then immediately signs themselves, printing their full name and address. The donor is always the very first person to sign anywhere on the document.
The certificate provider signs Section 10 (Part B)
Once the donor has signed, the certificate provider signs Section 10, also known as Part B. By signing, they are formally confirming that the donor understands what the LPA does and is not being pressured into making it. The certificate provider must sign after the donor and before any attorney. Their date must be the same as the donor’s or later — never earlier. A certificate provider does not need a witness.
Each attorney signs Section 11
After the certificate provider has signed, each attorney signs and dates their own Section 11. Every attorney must sign in front of a witness, who then signs and prints their full name and address. If you have several attorneys, they each complete their own Section 11. The same independent witness can watch more than one attorney sign, and attorneys are allowed to witness each other — but the donor cannot witness any of them. Every attorney’s date must fall on or after the certificate provider’s date.
Replacement attorneys sign last
If you named any replacement attorneys — the people who step in if an original attorney can no longer act — they sign their part of Section 11 last of all. Each replacement attorney signs in front of a witness, exactly like the original attorneys. Their signing dates must be the same as, or later than, the original attorneys’ dates. No one may sign before the person ahead of them in the sequence.
That is the entire order: donor, certificate provider, attorneys, replacement attorneys, with the dates marching forward (or staying level) the whole way down. Once the last replacement attorney has signed, the signing stage is complete and the LPA is ready to be sent for registration with the OPG.
Who can witness an LPA — and who cannot
A witness simply confirms they watched a particular person sign. The rules for who is allowed to do this are short but strict, and getting them wrong is a frequent cause of rejection. Our full guide to LPA witness requirements covers every scenario, but here are the essentials.
Who can witness
- Anyone aged 18 or over with mental capacity.
- A friend, neighbour, colleague or other independent adult.
- One witness can watch several people sign in the same session.
- Attorneys may witness one another’s signatures.
Who cannot witness
- An attorney cannot witness the donor’s signature.
- The donor cannot witness an attorney’s signature.
- Anyone under 18.
- Anyone who lacks the mental capacity to understand what they are witnessing.
The single most common witness mistake is having one of the attorneys witness the donor as they sign — often because they are the family member sitting closest. Always use a neutral adult who is not named in the LPA to witness the donor, and the problem disappears entirely.
Date formatting requirements
Dates trip up more people than almost anything else, so it is worth being deliberate. Follow these rules and your dates will pass every time:
- Write dates out fully. Use a clear format such as “14 June 2026” rather than an ambiguous numeric style. This avoids any confusion between day and month.
- Keep them in chronological order. Read the dates from the donor down to the last replacement attorney — they must be equal or increasing all the way down, never decreasing.
- Use real, realistic dates. Do not pre-date or post-date a signature. A date in the future, or an impossible date, will be rejected.
- Every signature needs its own date. A missing date is treated exactly like a wrong one.
- Never use correction fluid. If you mis-write a date, do not Tipp-Ex over it — print a fresh copy of that page and start again.
If everyone is together in one room, the simplest approach is to have them all sign on the same day in the correct order. Identical dates are perfectly valid and remove any risk of an out-of-sequence error.
What happens if someone signs in the wrong order
If any person signs out of order — or on a date that is earlier than the person before them — the LPA is not legally valid. When you send it for registration, the OPG will identify the error and return the application unregistered. There is no way to patch a wrong-order signature on the existing form; changing a date after the fact is itself treated as an error.
In practice that means starting the signing stage again from scratch: printing fresh forms, getting the donor, certificate provider and every attorney to sign once more in the correct order, and submitting a brand-new application with another £82 registration fee. For a couple making two LPAs each, the wasted fees and the second round of coordinating signatures can be a real headache — all from a single date in the wrong place. You can read more about why the OPG rejects LPAs and how to sidestep each cause.
Common signing mistakes and their consequences
Almost every rejected LPA falls into one of the categories below. Our deeper article on the most common LPA signing mistakes works through real examples, but this checklist covers the ones that matter most.
- ×Signing out of order — for example an attorney signing before the certificate provider. Result: the LPA is invalid and rejected.
- ×Dates that run backwards through the sequence. Result: rejection, even if the people signed in the right order.
- ×An attorney witnessing the donor’s signature. Result: that signature is invalid and the form is returned.
- ×A missing witness signature, name or address. Result: the OPG cannot accept the signature.
- ×Using correction fluid or crossing out and amending a date. Result: the page is treated as altered and rejected.
- ×Forgetting to have a replacement attorney sign at all. Result: the appointment fails and the form is returned.
- ×A certificate provider dated before the donor. Result: the certificate is invalid and the LPA is rejected.
How often does the OPG reject LPAs?
The Office of the Public Guardian returns thousands of LPAs every year, and the great majority of those rejections come down to signing and dating errors rather than anything complicated. People sign in the wrong order, miss a witness detail, or date a page before the one above it — small slips that invalidate an otherwise perfect document.
What makes this frustrating is that virtually all of these rejections are avoidable. There is nothing legally difficult about signing an LPA: you simply need the right people, in the right order, on the right dates, in front of the right witnesses. Slow down at the signing stage, follow the four steps above, and check the dates run in sequence before you post anything. A few extra minutes of care saves weeks of delay and a repeated £82 fee.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct order to sign an LPA?
The legal order is: the donor signs first, then the certificate provider, then the attorneys, and finally any replacement attorneys.
Each person must sign on a date that is the same as, or later than, the person before them in the sequence. If anyone signs out of this order the LPA is invalid and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will reject it.
Does the donor really have to sign before the certificate provider?
Yes. The certificate provider is confirming that you understood the LPA and were not pressured, so they can only sign once you have signed.
A certificate provider signature dated before the donor signature is one of the most common reasons LPAs are returned. Always check the dates read in chronological order before you post anything.
Can an attorney witness the donor signing?
No. An attorney named in the LPA cannot witness the donor’s signature, and the donor cannot witness an attorney’s signature.
A witness must be a neutral person aged 18 or over with mental capacity. Using a friend, neighbour or colleague who is not part of the LPA is the safest choice.
Who can be a witness for an LPA?
Any person aged 18 or over who has mental capacity can witness a signature, as long as they are not disqualified for that particular signature.
The witness watches the person sign, then signs themselves and prints their full name and address. One independent person can witness several signatures in the same session.
Do the attorneys all need separate witnesses?
Each attorney must sign in front of a witness, but the same witness can watch more than one attorney sign.
What matters is that the witness is physically present at the moment each person signs and then signs the form themselves. Attorneys may witness each other, but the donor may not witness them.
What happens if we sign the LPA in the wrong order?
The OPG will reject the application. You then have to print fresh forms, get everyone to sign again in the correct order, and pay the £82 registration fee again.
There is no way to fix a wrong-order signature on an existing form — a corrected date is treated as a new error. Getting the order right the first time is far cheaper than re-doing it.
How should the dates be written on the form?
Write each date in full — for example “14 June 2026” — and make sure they run in chronological order from the donor through to the replacement attorneys.
Use real, sensible dates. Future dates, impossible dates, or dates that are out of sequence all trigger a rejection. Never use correction fluid; if you make a mistake, start that page again.
Can everyone sign the LPA on the same day?
Yes. Everyone can sign on the same day as long as they physically sign in the correct order — donor, then certificate provider, then attorneys, then replacements.
Same-day signing is common and perfectly valid. The dates simply need to be identical or ascending; they can never go backwards through the sequence.
How many LPAs get rejected for signing mistakes?
Thousands of LPAs are returned by the OPG every year, and signing and dating errors are among the most common causes.
Most of these rejections are entirely avoidable. Following the order, checking the dates, and using an independent witness removes nearly all of the risk.
Do I need a solicitor to supervise the signing?
No. You do not need a solicitor to make or sign an LPA. The form is designed to be completed and signed by ordinary people.
As long as you follow the correct order, witness rules and dating requirements, a self-made LPA is exactly as legally valid as one drawn up by a solicitor.
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