What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney is one of the most important legal documents you can put in place, and yet most adults in England and Wales do not have one. It allows you, while you still have full mental capacity, to appoint people you trust to manage your affairs if a stroke, dementia, a serious accident or another illness ever leaves you unable to make decisions for yourself. The person making the LPA is called the donor, and the people they appoint are called attorneys.

An LPA replaced the older Enduring Power of Attorney system in 2007 and is governed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It is overseen by a government body called the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), and a document only becomes legally usable once the OPG has registered it. This guide explains the two types of LPA, who needs one, how mental capacity works, what happens if you have no LPA at all, and exactly what it costs.

The two types of LPA

There are two completely separate LPAs, and you can make one or both. Many people choose to put both in place so that every part of their life is covered. If you are unsure, our guide on whether you need both types of LPA walks through the decision.

1. Property and Financial Affairs LPA

This LPA covers everything to do with your money and property. Your attorneys can pay your bills, manage your bank and building society accounts, claim and use your pension and benefits, deal with HMRC, manage your investments, and even buy or sell your home on your behalf. For many families this is the most urgent LPA, because the moment a donor loses capacity, banks will freeze sole accounts and direct debits can fail — leaving the mortgage, rent and care costs unpaid until someone has legal authority to act.

A key advantage of this type is timing. Unlike the Health and Welfare LPA, a registered Property and Financial Affairs LPA can be used straight away with your permission, even while you still have full capacity. That makes it useful well beyond illness — for example if you are abroad for long periods, recovering from surgery, or simply find managing paperwork increasingly difficult. You can also restrict it so that your attorneys may only act once you have actually lost capacity, giving you complete control over when it kicks in. Read our deeper explainer on the Property and Financial Affairs LPA.

2. Health and Welfare LPA

This LPA covers decisions about your personal welfare. Your attorneys can decide on your day-to-day care and routine, the type of medical treatment you receive, who looks after you, and crucially where you live — including whether you move into a care home. You can also give your attorneys the specific power to accept or refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf, or you can reserve that decision for doctors. These are deeply personal choices, which is why the law gives them their own dedicated document.

Unlike the financial LPA, a Health and Welfare LPA can only be used once it has been registered and you have lost the mental capacity to make the decision in question. While you can still decide for yourself, your attorneys cannot override you. This safeguard means the document sits quietly in the background until it is genuinely needed. Without it, difficult care and treatment decisions can fall to medical professionals or social services rather than the people who know you best. Our full guide on the Health and Welfare LPA covers it in detail.

Who needs an LPA?

The honest answer is every adult over 18. There is a common myth that LPAs are only for elderly people, but the loss of mental capacity does not wait for old age. A road accident, a sudden stroke, a brain injury or a mental health crisis can affect anyone at any time, often without warning.

• Older adults are the most obvious group, given the rising risk of dementia and frailty, and an LPA is the single best way to plan ahead while you are still well.
• Young adults who have just turned 18 are exactly the people for whom an accident would otherwise trigger a slow, costly court process, because their parents have no automatic legal authority once they reach adulthood.
• Business owners and the self-employed risk their company grinding to a halt if no one can sign cheques or access accounts.
• Couples often wrongly assume a spouse can simply take over — they cannot, not without an LPA.

The one rule that matters above all: you must set up an LPA before you lose capacity. Once capacity is gone, it is legally too late, and your family is left with the much harder court route described below.

Mental capacity explained

Everything about LPAs revolves around the idea of "mental capacity", which is defined by the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Under the Act, a person has capacity if they can understand the information relevant to a decision, retain it long enough to decide, weigh it up, and communicate their choice. Capacity is always decision-specific and time-specific — someone might have the capacity to choose what to eat but not to manage a complex investment portfolio, and capacity can fluctuate from day to day.

The Act also sets out five core principles, including a presumption that every adult has capacity unless proved otherwise, and that an unwise decision is not the same as a lack of capacity. When your attorneys act under your LPA, they are legally bound to follow these principles and to act in your best interests at all times. To make a valid LPA in the first place, you must have capacity at the moment you sign — which is why an independent certificate provider must confirm that you understand what you are doing.

What happens if you have no LPA?

This is the part that surprises most people. If you lose capacity without an LPA in place, nobody can automatically manage your affairs — not your husband or wife, not your children, not your parents. Joint accounts may be frozen, your home cannot be sold, and care decisions are made without a family member having formal authority.

For a fuller comparison, see our article on what happens if you do not have an LPA. An LPA put in place now avoids all of this.

How registration works and the role of the OPG

An LPA is not legally usable the moment you sign it. It must first be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, the government agency that maintains the official register of LPAs, supervises attorneys and deputies, and investigates concerns about abuse. Registration is what gives the document its legal force.

The process runs in a set order: the donor signs first, then the certificate provider, then the attorneys, and the forms must be signed and dated in the correct sequence or the OPG will reject them. Once posted with the fee, the OPG carries out checks and observes a statutory 4-week waiting period during which named people can object. In total, registration currently takes around 20 weeks. Our step-by-step guides on the signing process, the role of the certificate provider, and registering with the OPG take you through each stage so nothing is missed.

When an LPA comes into effect

Registration and use are two different things. A Property and Financial Affairs LPA can be used as soon as it is registered, with your permission, even while you still have capacity — unless you choose to restrict it to only apply after capacity is lost.

A Health and Welfare LPA works differently: it can only ever be used once it is registered and you have lost the capacity to make the specific decision involved. Until then, you remain in charge of your own care and treatment, and your attorneys have no authority to overrule you.

LPA vs Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA)

You may have heard of an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA). EPAs were the previous system and can no longer be made — they were replaced by LPAs on 1 October 2007. An EPA only ever covered property and financial affairs; there was no health and welfare equivalent, which is one of the key improvements the LPA introduced.

Importantly, a valid EPA signed before October 2007 remains legally valid and can still be used, but it must be registered with the OPG once the donor starts to lose capacity. If you only hold an old EPA, it is worth understanding its limits — our guide comparing an LPA and an Enduring Power of Attorney explains whether you should also make a modern Health and Welfare LPA.

How much does an LPA cost?

The core cost is the OPG registration fee of £82 per LPA. If you make both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA, that is £164 in government fees in total.

• Fee remission: if your gross annual income is under £12,000, you can apply to pay a reduced fee of £41 per LPA.
• Fee exemption: if you receive certain means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Guarantee Pension Credit, you may pay nothing at all.
• Solicitors typically charge several hundred pounds per LPA on top of the registration fee.
• myLPA Guide lets you prepare both LPAs for free — you only ever pay the OPG fee, plus any optional service add-ons you choose.

You can complete the whole thing without spending a penny on legal advice. Our walkthrough on how to do an LPA for free shows exactly how.

Common misconceptions

• "My spouse can just take over." Marriage gives no automatic authority over a partner's finances or care.
• "LPAs are only for the elderly." Capacity can be lost at any age through accident or illness.
• "It gives my attorneys control now." They can only act within the limits you set, and a Health and Welfare LPA cannot be used while you still have capacity.
• "I need a solicitor." The forms are designed for the public and are perfectly valid without one.
• "My will covers this." A will only takes effect after death; an LPA protects you while you are alive.

Frequently asked questions