Lasting power of attorney: what it covers, what it costs, and the mistake almost everyone makes.
An LPA is the document your family needs before anything goes wrong, and cannot get afterwards. Find out which type you need and what it will cost.
What a lasting power of attorney actually is
A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document in which you (the “donor”) choose one or more trusted people (your “attorneys”) to make decisions for you if you lose the ability to make them yourself, through dementia, stroke, accident or serious illness.
The crucial word is before. You can only make an LPA while you still have mental capacity. Once capacity is lost, the option disappears, and your family's only route is a court application for deputyship, which is slower, more expensive and more intrusive (more on that below).
One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime, according to the Alzheimer's Society, yet most UK adults have no LPA in place. It is the most commonly missing document in otherwise well-organised estate plans.
The two types, and why most people need both
There are two separate LPAs in England and Wales, covering different territory. They are made independently, and you can have one without the other.
Property and financial affairs LPA
Your attorneys can manage money and property: operating bank accounts, paying bills, collecting income and benefits, managing investments, and buying or selling property on your behalf.
You can allow it to be used as soon as it is registered, with your consent, even while you still have capacity. That is genuinely useful if you are physically unwell, in hospital or simply want help with admin.
Without it, even a spouse cannot access your sole-name accounts, and joint accounts are often frozen by the bank once it learns one holder has lost capacity.
Health and welfare LPA
Your attorneys can make decisions about medical treatment, care arrangements, where you live, and day-to-day matters such as diet and routine. You choose separately whether they can make decisions about life-sustaining treatment.
Unlike the financial LPA, this one can only be used once you have lost capacity to make the particular decision yourself. While you can decide, you decide.
Most people benefit from making both at the same time, because the situations that trigger one almost always involve the other, and doing them together is cheaper than doing them twice.
Registering an LPA: process and costs
An LPA is not valid until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). Registration takes several weeks at best, often longer, which is another reason to do this well before it is needed.
The process
- Complete the forms, naming your attorneys, any replacement attorneys, and any instructions or preferences. This can be done online through GOV.UK or on paper.
- A certificate provider signs to confirm you understand what you are doing and are not under pressure. This can be someone who has known you well for two years, or a professional such as a doctor.
- Everyone signs in the correct order: you, then the certificate provider, then the attorneys. Getting the order wrong is a common reason forms bounce.
- Submit to the OPG for registration. The OPG runs a waiting period so objections can be raised, then registers the LPA.
Costs
The OPG charges a registration fee of £92 per LPA at the time of writing, so registering both types costs £184 per person, or £368 for a couple doing all four. Fee remissions apply: a 50% reduction if your income is below a set threshold, and a full exemption if you receive certain means-tested benefits.
You can complete the forms yourself for no cost beyond the fee, and many people with straightforward wishes do exactly that. Professional help (typically £200 to £500 plus the fees, more for couples or complex instructions) earns its keep when you want tailored instructions, have concerns about family dynamics or capacity being questioned later, or are appointing attorneys jointly with specific rules about how they must act.
LPA vs deputyship: the cost of leaving it too late
If someone loses capacity without an LPA, their family cannot simply step in. Someone must apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a deputy. Compare the two routes:
- Cost: an LPA is £92 per document to register. A deputyship application costs £432 in court fees alone, typically plus professional costs, then an annual supervision fee of up to £320, plus a security bond premium for financial deputies, every year, for life.
- Time: an LPA is ready as soon as it is registered. A deputyship application commonly takes many months, during which bills may go unpaid and decisions sit in limbo.
- Control: with an LPA, you chose your attorneys and set the rules. With deputyship, the court decides who is appointed, and it may not be who you would have picked. Courts are also reluctant to grant personal welfare deputyships at all, so health decisions often stay with professionals rather than family.
- Ongoing burden: deputies file annual reports to the OPG and operate under continuing supervision. Attorneys have duties too, but the regime is far lighter.
Deputyship exists as a safety net and it works, but nobody who compares the two chooses it on purpose. It is what happens by default when an LPA was never made.
The misconception that catches almost everyone: LPAs end at death
This one matters enough to be blunt about. All powers of attorney end immediately at the moment of death. Lasting, enduring and ordinary powers alike.
The instant the donor dies, the attorney's authority is extinguished. An attorney who keeps using the donor's bank card, even to pay for the funeral, even with the family's blessing, is acting without any legal authority. Banks freeze accounts once notified of the death for exactly this reason.
From that point, the estate belongs to a different legal process entirely: the executors named in the will (or administrators under intestacy) take over, usually via probate. The registered LPA should be returned to the OPG, and the attorney's job is simply over, even if the attorney and the executor are the same person wearing a different hat.
If you are dealing with this transition now, our probate guide explains what happens next.
The flip side is also true and equally misunderstood: a will does nothing during your lifetime. A will covers after death; LPAs cover incapacity before it. A complete plan needs both, which is why specialists usually prepare them together. See our wills guide.
Common questions
What is the difference between the two types of LPA?
How much does a lasting power of attorney cost?
Does power of attorney continue after death?
Can I make an LPA for someone who has dementia?
Who should I choose as my attorney?
What is the difference between an LPA and a deputyship?
The best time to sort an LPA was before you started wondering about it.
The second-best time is this week. Work out which documents you need and what they will cost, then, if your situation needs tailored drafting, we will connect you with a vetted specialist who prepares LPAs alongside wills every day.