What a Lasting Power of Attorney does
An LPA is a legal document that lets you choose people you trust to make decisions on your behalf if you ever lose the capacity to make them yourself. You decide who those people are, and you decide while you are well enough to choose.
The two types
Property & financial affairs
Banking, bills, pensions, benefits and property. You choose whether your attorneys can act as soon as it is registered, or only if you lose capacity.
Health & welfare
Where you live, your day-to-day care and medical treatment. Attorneys can only ever use this one if you have lost the capacity to decide for yourself.
Most people put both in place, because between them they cover everything. If you do, your simple Will is free.
Why it matters to do it early
An LPA can only be made while you still have the mental capacity to make it. That is the part people most often misunderstand: it is not something that can be arranged later, once it is needed.
Registration also takes time. Once your LPA is signed and witnessed it goes to the Office of the Public Guardian, which currently takes around 12 weeks, and the LPA cannot be used until it is registered. Putting it in place well before it is needed is the whole point of it.
You are not locked in. As long as you still have mental capacity you can revoke an LPA or make a new one at any time.
How it works with us
- Answer the questions online, in plain English, at your own pace.
- Choosing both types? One set of answers produces both documents — you do not fill anything in twice.
- Nothing to pay while you fill it in. Payment is the last step.
- Every document is personally checked by Benjamin Gilbert before it reaches you.
- We send clear written instructions on signing and witnessing.
- You post the signed forms back, and we submit the registration to the OPG and deal with them on your behalf.
What it costs
£150 for one LPA, or £250 for both types. The Office of the Public Guardian charges £92 to register each LPA, paid to them, not to us. Full details on our pricing page.