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.

Start with what it actually is

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.

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.

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.

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 goes through 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.

See the questions

About fifteen minutes. You see your answers and our recommendation before you pay anything.

50,918 Applications rejected by the Office of the Public Guardian in a single year. Almost always for something small.

4 Documents a couple needs. Two for health and welfare, two for property and financial affairs.

8–20 wks How long registration takes once posted, whoever prepared it. We tell you when to chase.

How it works

Six decisions, asked in plain English.

You answer

Who acts for you, who steps in if they cannot, and how you want them to work together. No legal terms.

We recommend

Every answer produces a recommendation and the reason behind it. You see all of it before you decide to go ahead.

Andrew checks

Names, addresses, wording, and the clauses people leave out. Read line by line before anything is printed.

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.

Andrew Brackenbury at his desk, with reference books behind him.

Who checks your documents

Andrew Brackenbury goes through every one, line by line.

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.

The printed client pack: an A4 cover reading Lasting power of attorney, prepared for the clients by name, checked before printing by Andrew Brackenbury.

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. There are three routes genuinely open to you. Here is the honest comparison, so you can work out which column you are in.

	Yourself on gov.uk	Us	Keep Trust Planning
Who they are	The government's own service, run by the Office of the Public Guardian	Power of Attorney Service, a trading name of Dead Easy Legal Ltd	An advice firm, and also part of Dead Easy Legal Ltd, the same company behind this service
Cost for a couple	Free to prepare. £92 per LPA to register, so £368 for four	£395 or £895 including VAT, plus the same £368 in fees	No published price. They quote for the advice you need
What it covers	The LPA, and nothing else	The LPA, prepared from your answers and checked	Wills, trusts and estate planning. The LPA sits inside that, not on its own
How it is done	Online, on your own, at your own pace	Plain questions online, then the documents prepared from your answers	Online meetings with an adviser
Who decides what goes on it	You, alone	You, with a recommendation behind every choice	You, after advice from a qualified adviser
Checked before signing	No	Yes, by Andrew	Yes, as part of the advice
If it comes back rejected	Start the wait again	We are checking to stop that happening	Ask them. It depends what you agree
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	You want the whole estate looked at, with the LPA as one part of a wider conversation

Keep Trust Planning is in that third column because for some people it is the better answer, and we are telling you plainly that it is our own sister company. Both are trading names of Dead Easy Legal Ltd, company number 13269615. A comparison that quietly points you at its own company is not a comparison, so you should hear it from us rather than find it out afterwards. They do not sell a lasting power of attorney on its own, and they publish no prices, so this is not a like-for-like swap. It is the route for someone who wants the whole estate looked at.

None of those three is a solicitor, and we are not a firm of solicitors. If your affairs are genuinely complicated, a business to pass on, property abroad, or a family arrangement that needs untangling, a solicitor may well be the right answer, and the fee is worth paying to get it right.

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.

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 goes through 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

Start

One person: £245

If you would rather not £895

Prepared, checked and handled

Everything above
Half an hour on the telephone with Andrew before anything is prepared
We submit to the Office of the Public Guardian for you
We deal with them throughout, and chase when it goes quiet
We tell you when it is registered, and what to do next

Start

One person: £745

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.

If you could not decidefor yourself tomorrow,your spouse or partnercould not simply step in.