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Lasting power of attorney · England and Wales
If you could not decide for yourself tomorrow, your spouse or partner could not simply step in.
Most people believe a spouse, partner or grown-up child can take over if the worst happens. They cannot. Not without a document you have to sign while you are still well enough to sign it.
Nearly two thirds of British adults cannot explain what a lasting power of attorney (LPA) does. A quarter do not know how it differs from a Will. Eight in ten people over fifty-five have not made one.
No sign-up. Read as much or as little as you want.
Three things worth knowing first
Before anything else, the bits people get wrong.
01
Next of kin means nothing here
Banks, pension providers and investment companies need legal authority before they can act for you. Being married is not legal authority. Being your son or daughter is not either. Even when the whole family agrees on what should happen.
02
You can only make one while you still can
You have to be capable of making your own decisions on the day you sign. Almost three in ten people think this is something you arrange after somebody becomes ill. By then the door has closed.
03
Without one, a court decides instead
The only route left is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship. Approval is not guaranteed. While it runs, accounts stay frozen and bills go unpaid. Once appointed, the deputy pays the Office of the Public Guardian a supervision fee every year for as long as the deputyship lasts, is closely supervised, and reports each year. And the court chooses who is appointed, which may not be who you would have chosen.
Figures from Lloyds Bank research into later life planning. We would rather show you where the numbers come from than ask you to take our word for it.
What it actually is
One document. Two kinds. You need both.
An LPA lets you name the people who can act for you if a day comes when you cannot act for yourself. You choose them now, while the choice is still yours to make. Nothing happens until it is needed.
Property and financial affairs
Your bank accounts, your bills, your pension, your house. The practical business of keeping a life running when you cannot run it yourself.
Health and welfare
Where you live, the care you receive, the medical treatment you agree to or refuse. Most people only think of the money. This is the one families end up wishing they had.
It is not a Will. A Will states what happens after you die. This says what happens while you are still here and cannot speak for yourself. Nearly half of people do not realise an LPA stops the moment somebody dies, which is exactly when a Will takes effect.
The difference they make
The same family, the same day, with and without one.
No adjectives. Just what happens in each case.
With an LPA
Who acts for you
The people you chose, by name.
When they can start
Straight away. It is already registered.
What it costs
Nothing further. It was paid for years ago.
Ongoing supervision
None.
Who is in charge of the decision
You were, when you made it.
Without one
Who acts for you
Nobody, until the Court of Protection appoints a deputy. That is the only route, and approval is not guaranteed.
When they can start
After the application is made, considered and granted. In 2025 that took the court a median of 15.6 weeks from receiving it, and a mean of 23.9. Accounts stay frozen and bills go unpaid throughout.
What it costs
A higher application fee, then a supervision fee to the Office of the Public Guardian every year, for as long as the deputyship lasts.
Ongoing supervision
Close. The deputy is supervised and reports every year.
Who is in charge of the decision
The court. It may not choose who you would have.
Court timings from the Ministry of Justice, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026, Court of Protection timeliness table: property and affairs deputyship applications, receipt to final order, calendar year 2025. The first three months of 2026 were slower still, a median of 22.9 weeks.
Where we come in
The hard part isn't the form. It's knowing what to put on it.
You answer plain questions about your family. We work out the legal wording, prepare all four documents, and Andrew Brackenbury reads every one before you sign.
Nobody asks you whether your attorneys should act jointly or jointly and severally. We ask whether they get on. Your answers decide it.
About fifteen minutes. You see your answers and our recommendation before you pay anything.
50,918Applications rejected by the Office of the Public Guardian in a single year. Almost always for something small.
4Documents a couple needs. Two for health and welfare, two for property and financial affairs.
8–20 wksHow long registration takes once posted, whoever prepared it. We tell you when to chase.
How it works
Six decisions, asked in plain English.
01
You answer
Who acts for you, who steps in if they cannot, and how you want them to work together. No legal terms.
02
We recommend
Every answer produces a recommendation and the reason behind it. You see all of it before you decide to go ahead.
03
Andrew checks
Names, addresses, wording, and the clauses people leave out. Read line by line before anything is printed.
04
It arrives
A printed pack through the door. Sign in the order given, post it, then follow the dates we give you.
Preferences and instructions
You can say how you want things done.
There is a page on the form where you can write what matters to you. Most people leave it blank, and the Office of the Public Guardian says so itself. Blank is often the right answer, because your attorneys already have to act in your best interests.
If there is something that matters, though, it belongs in writing. Where you would want to live. What should happen to your home. Whether a particular person should be kept out of decisions about your care.
You answer a plain question. We put the legal wording in. You never have to write it yourself.
Every wording we offer follows an example the Office of the Public Guardian has published as acceptable, or a preference that has already survived a challenge in court.
Most of what people want works better as a wish than an order, and we draft it that way. Orders are what get struck out.
Up to three are included. Beyond that, half an hour with Andrew costs £100.
This is the part of the form that most often gets a document queried. A query is months added to a wait that already runs eight to twenty weeks, which is why we would rather give you a short list that works than a blank box that might not.
Who checks your documents
Andrew Brackenbury reads every one.
Andrew is a full member of the Society of Will Writers and has spent his career preparing these documents for people face to face. Every set we produce goes past him before it is printed.
That is the difference between this and a form you fill in yourself. Not the paperwork. The person who reads it.
What arrives
A pack, not a download.
Printed and posted, because a document you sign with a pen deserves better than a PDF and a hunt for a working printer.
All four documents, completed from your answers and ready to sign.
What you decided, and why. A plain record of your choices and the reasoning, to keep.
The signing order. Who signs what, and when. Dates out of order are one of the commonest reasons an application comes back.
A page for your certificate provider. Hand it over. It answers everything they will ask, and checks they are allowed to do it.
Where to send it and what it costs, including how to pay less if you qualify.
Dates to work to, including when to chase and what to say.
Being straight with you
You do not have to pay anyone.
You can do all of this yourself on gov.uk for the registration fee alone, and plenty of people should. Here is the honest comparison, so you can work out which column you are in.
Yourself on gov.uk
Us
A solicitor
Cost for a couple
£368 in fees
£395 including VAT, plus £368 in fees
£1,200 to £2,400 plus fees, usually quoted before VAT
Who decides what goes on it
You, alone
You, with a recommendation behind every choice
They advise you in a meeting
Checked before signing
No
Yes, by Andrew
Yes
If it comes back rejected
Start the wait again
We are checking to stop that happening
They put it right
Right for you if
You are confident you understand the legal implications of your decisions
You want it registered first time, knowing it will work when you need it
Your affairs are complicated and you want advice on more than the LPA
Why first time matters
Registration takes eight to twenty weeks. If the signing order is wrong, or a date sits out of sequence, you find out at the end of that wait and start it again. That is most of a year in which the document does not exist, and the whole reason for having one is that capacity can go without warning.
You can only make one while you are still able to make one.
That is the whole point of an LPA, and it is exactly why people leave it too late. There is no version of this you can sort out afterwards.
Price
Two ways to do it.
Both include Andrew checking every document. The difference is who deals with the Office of the Public Guardian afterwards. Prices include VAT and cover a couple's four documents. Solicitors and will writers usually quote before VAT, so check what you are comparing.
Most people£395
Prepared and checked
The guided questions, and a recommendation behind every choice
All four documents prepared from your answers
Andrew reads every one before printing
The pack posted to you, with the signing order
You post it to the Office of the Public Guardian and pay their fee direct
The Office of the Public Guardian charges £368 to register four documents. That is theirs, not ours.
If your income is under £12,000, or you receive certain benefits, that fee drops or disappears. We show you how to claim it.
You pay us once you have seen your answers and the recommendation. Not before.
Both prices include up to three preferences or instructions in your documents. If you want to go further than that, half an hour with Andrew on the telephone costs £100.
When to talk to somebody instead
This is not right for everybody.
You and your partner disagree
You are two people making two sets of decisions. Where those decisions differ, you want a conversation, not a form.
Somebody is being leaned on
If any of this is being pushed by someone else, stop. That is precisely what the safeguards in these documents exist to catch.
Capacity is already slipping
If there is any doubt that the person understands what they are signing, this needs somebody in the room.
In any of these cases, start with a personal consultation with Andrew. Half an hour on the telephone, £100.
Say so at any point and we will take you out of the online route. We would far rather lose you as a client than register a legal document that does not work.
