Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA): How to Use It (2026)

A health and welfare LPA gives an attorney the power to make decisions about things like your daily routine, medical care, moving into a care home and life-sustaining treatment. It can only be used when you are unable to make your own decisions.

• ✓Yes: Your daily routine, for example washing, dressing and eating
• ✓Yes: Medical care
• ✓Yes: Moving into a care home
• ✓Yes: Where you live
• ✓Yes: Life-sustaining treatment

A health and welfare attorney can only make decisions when the donor does not have mental capacity to make them. They must tell people involved in the donor's care when they start making decisions, including friends and family, the doctor and other healthcare staff, and care workers and social workers.

A property and financial affairs LPA gives an attorney the power to make decisions about money and property for you. It can be used as soon as it is registered, with your permission.

• ✓Yes: Managing a bank or building society account
• ✓Yes: Paying bills
• ✓Yes: Collecting benefits or a pension
• ✓Yes: Money, tax, property and investments
• ✓Yes: Selling your home

A property and financial affairs attorney can start making decisions while you still have mental capacity if the LPA says they can and you give permission. Otherwise they can only start when you do not have mental capacity. They can use your money to look after your home and buy anything you need day to day, for example food. They will need legal advice if a sale is below the market value, if they want to buy the property themselves, or if they are giving it to someone else.

After they start acting, an attorney must follow any preferences and instructions you included in the LPA, which GOV.UK calls restrictions and conditions, and act in your best interests and help you make your own decisions where possible. Their other duties are to:

• Keep your money and property separate from their own, unless they already share a bank account
• Respect your confidentiality
• Keep records of their actions

An attorney must not:

• ✗No: Use their position to benefit themselves
• ✗No: Let other people use the LPA to make decisions
• ✗No: Use the LPA unless it is registered

An attorney should keep a record of important decisions and when they make them, such as selling your home or agreeing to medical treatment, but not small, everyday decisions.

Unless the LPA states otherwise, a property and financial affairs attorney can spend money on gifts to a friend, family member or acquaintance on occasions when you would normally give gifts, such as birthdays or anniversaries, and on donations to a charity you would not object to. They must apply to the Court of Protection for any other type of gift or donation. They must check that you can afford the gift or donation, and cannot donate your money if that would mean you could not afford your care costs.

If you appoint more than one attorney, you must decide whether they will make decisions separately or together. Attorneys who are appointed jointly must all agree or they cannot make the decision. You can also nominate other people to replace your attorney or attorneys if at some point they cannot act on your behalf anymore.

You must be 18 or over and have mental capacity when you make your LPA. You do not need to live in the UK or be a British citizen to make one.

Your attorney needs to be 18 or over and must have the mental capacity to make their own decisions. You cannot choose someone who is subject to a Debt Relief Order or who is bankrupt if you are making an LPA for property and financial affairs.

• You must register your LPA or your attorney will not be able to make decisions for you
• It takes 8 to 10 weeks to register an LPA if there are no mistakes in the application, and GOV.UK's guide for attorneys says it can take up to 16 weeks
• Applying to register an LPA costs £92 unless you get a reduction or exemption, or £184 in total for both types
• A property and financial affairs LPA can be used as soon as it is registered, with your permission
• A health and welfare LPA can only be used when you are unable to make your own decisions

You can apply to register your LPA yourself if you are able to make your own decisions. Your attorney can also register it for you. You will be told if they do and you can object to the registration. See how to set up an LPA for the steps and what an LPA costs for the fee and reductions.

How an LPA ends:

• You can end your LPA yourself, if you have mental capacity to make that decision, by sending the Office of the Public Guardian the original LPA and a written statement called a deed of revocation
• If you want to add another attorney, you need to end your LPA and make a new one
• It ends automatically when you die, and your affairs are then looked after by your executors or personal representatives, not your attorney

Your LPA may also end if your attorney loses mental capacity, divorces you or ends their civil partnership with you, becomes bankrupt or subject to a Debt Relief Order (for a property and financial affairs attorney), is removed by the Court of Protection, or dies. It can continue if there are other attorneys who can act jointly and severally, but not if they are only allowed to act jointly, or if there are replacement attorneys. You can ask the Office of the Public Guardian to remove one attorney, while your LPA is registered and you still have mental capacity, by sending a written statement called a partial deed of revocation.

You can choose up to five people to notify when the LPA is about to be registered. They cannot be your attorneys or replacement attorneys, and this section is optional. Before you register, a form to notify people (LP3) must be sent to all the people to notify, also called people to be told. They have 3 weeks to raise any concerns with the Office of the Public Guardian.

People to notify should be people who know you well and would be willing to raise concerns about your LPA. They can object if they think you were under pressure to make it or if they think fraud was involved. A person to notify who has no concerns does not have to do anything.

Any company or organisation an attorney deals with on the donor's behalf can ask them to prove they are the attorney. They can let the organisation view an online summary of the LPA, show the original registered LPA, or show a certified copy of the LPA. If the LPA was registered on or after 1 January 2016, they can let organisations view an online summary of the latest version, using an access code that is valid for 50 days from the day it is created.

You can confirm that a copy of your registered LPA is genuine by certifying it if you are still able to make your own decisions. Your attorney can use the certified copy to prove they have permission to make decisions on your behalf. A solicitor or a person authorised to carry out notarial activities can also certify copies.

Anyone can report a concern about an attorney to the Office of the Public Guardian, including the person being supported, family members or friends, professionals such as care workers or bank staff, and members of the public. The OPG will not tell the attorney where the report has come from. You can report a concern if you think an attorney is not acting in the person's best interests, is using money or property in the wrong way, is not doing their job properly, is abusing their position, or is not following the legal rules of their role. The OPG can only investigate in certain cases, when the person who is having decisions made for them does not have the mental capacity to deal with the issue themselves.

Your LPA will be legally binding only in England and Wales. There is a different way to make a power of attorney that works in Scotland or in Northern Ireland. The equivalents are:

• Scotland: a power of attorney that covers your financial and/or property affairs is called a continuing power of attorney, and a welfare power of attorney allows someone you have appointed to make welfare decisions for you
• Northern Ireland: an enduring power of attorney (EPA) covers financial matters only

In Scotland, powers of attorney which are to continue or begin in the event of incapacity cannot take effect until they have been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. In Northern Ireland, an EPA must be set up while you have capacity and registered with the Office of Care and Protection if you become incapable. See the main power of attorney guide for how the nations compare.