Lasting Power of Attorney: What It Is and Why You Probably Need One

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you choose, in advance, who can make decisions for you if you lose the ability to make them yourself — through dementia, a stroke, an accident, or anything else. It is the missing half of most people's planning: a will only takes effect after death, but an LPA protects you while you are alive.

The two types of LPA

• Property and financial affairs. Lets your attorney manage bank accounts, pay bills, collect pensions and benefits, and sell property if needed. You can allow it to be used as soon as it is registered (with your consent) or only if you lose capacity.
• Health and welfare. Covers decisions about medical treatment, care arrangements and where you live — and, if you choose, life-sustaining treatment. It can only ever be used once you cannot make the decision yourself.

They are separate documents, and most people are best served by making both at the same time.

Why "we'll sort it if it happens" does not work

An LPA can only be made while you still have mental capacity. If capacity is lost first, your family cannot simply step in — even a spouse cannot access accounts in your sole name. Instead someone must apply to the Court of Protection to become your deputy: a slower, more expensive process with ongoing supervision fees and annual reporting, at exactly the moment your family is under most strain. An LPA made in advance avoids all of that.

What it costs and how to do it

You can make an LPA yourself through the official GOV.UK service. Each LPA carries a registration fee (currently £82 per document in England and Wales, so £164 for both types, with reductions for low incomes), and it must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used — registration commonly takes several weeks, which is another reason not to leave it late. A solicitor can prepare LPAs for you, typically for a few hundred pounds, which some prefer where family dynamics are complicated.

Choosing attorneys sensibly

You can appoint more than one attorney, and choose whether they act jointly (all must agree — safer, less flexible) or jointly and severally (any can act alone — more practical day to day). Choose people who are organised and local enough to be useful, name at least one replacement attorney, and talk to them about your wishes while you can. The same thinking applies here as when choosing executors for your will — the "obvious" person is not always the right one.

LPAs and your wider planning

An LPA sits alongside your will rather than overlapping it: the LPA ends at death, at which point your will and executors take over (see how probate works). Reviewing both together after major life events — marriage, divorce, a diagnosis, moving — keeps the whole picture consistent.

This is general information about the law in England and Wales, not personalised legal advice. Rules, thresholds and processes change, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules in places — for anything that depends on your own circumstances, it is worth speaking to a solicitor (ideally one accredited by STEP or Solicitors for the Elderly) or checking GOV.UK and Citizens Advice for current detail.