What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows a person (the donor) to grant another person (the attorney) the legal authority to act on their behalf and make decisions for them if they are unable to, or no longer want to make decisions.

There are two types of LPA:

• Health & Welfare
• Property & Financial Affairs.

How do you create an LPA?

• You can make an LPA online or download paper documents and complete them.
• Signatures need to be made on the forms from:
  • You
  • The attorneys
  • Witnesses
  • A certificate provider.
• The LPA then needs to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

What do I need to know about registration?

• It costs £92 for each LPA, therefore if you want to register both a Health & Welfare, and a Property & Financial Affairs, it will cost £184 in total.
• Registration takes between 8 and 10 weeks, if there are no mistakes in the application.
• Before you register, you need to send a LP3 form to all the people you listed in the LPA.

Why don’t people register their LPAs?

• To save money
• They think they have plenty of time
• They feel unsure that they have completed the forms correctly
• They find the process convoluted and confusing
• They think they may want to make changes to their LPA at some stage, e.g. change their attorneys.

What happens when a LPA is not registered?

If a LPA is not registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, it has no authority and cannot be used. The appointed attorneys have no legal authority to make decisions.

Indeed, if the Office of the Public Guardian has not sent a letter confirming the LPA, with a reference number, then the LPA is not yet considered ‘registered’.

If the person who wrote the LPA – the donor – loses mental capacity, their affairs may freeze, and an application to the Court of Protection may need to take place, to appoint a deputy to manage their affairs. This can be a costly, time-consuming and stressful process.

Summary

It is essential that after completing the LPA forms, that they are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. We frequently see clients that fail to do this. They have spent time discussing the matter with their children, ensuring that the forms are correctly filled in and witnesses sought. And then, they languish.

Ensure that final step is undertaken, or all the hard work in putting together your LPA will be for nothing, and managing your affairs if you lose capacity could become difficult for your loved ones.

If you need further information about any aspect of writing your LPAs, please contact Jenny Barron on 01756 692866 or email jenny.barron@awbclaw.co.uk.

Solicitor and Director, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Further reading:

Helpful tools for managing your loved one’s Power of Attorney

You’ve registered your Power of Attorney. What now?

Lasting Powers of Attorney – when do they take effect?

13 March 2026