A Lasting Power of Attorney can vary in cost, depending on the level of professional legal services involved in producing and validating the document. For those who don’t wish to engage with a legal professional and write an LPA themselves, a document can be put together at just £82, the cost of the government’s registration fee.

You can nominate anyone as a Lasting Power of Attorney, provided they are over the age of 18 when they are appointed. You can also choose to appoint multiple people as LPA over your financial and property, and health affairs. On occasions where multiple LPAs are nominated, you can choose for them to make joint decisions or individually, dependent on your requirements.

A Lasting Power of Attorney gives you the ability to nominate a family member or friend to make financial, property or health decisions on your behalf, should you become incapacitated. Without an LPA in place, decisions can be made on your behalf by institutions, such as hospitals, care homes and local government organisations, which may not be aligned with your own wishes. In some extreme cases, this has resulted in care home residents being moved to homes well outside of their home area, against their family’s wishes.

There is nothing stopping you from writing your own Lasting Power of Attorney document, though you need to carefully follow the instructions laid out on the GOV.UK website to ensure that the will is witnessed correctly, and registered with the appropriate body. As this is a legal document, many prefer to speak to a solicitor or other legal services provider to help them construct their LPAs in a legally sound way, as well as managing the witnessing and registration stages of the process. This can provide peace of mind that everything is done correctly.

There is no legal requirement for a will to be written by a solicitor, and you can write one yourself. However, having a legal expert involved helps you avoid common mistakes, and ensures that the will is written in a way which provides watertight protection. There is additional cost for having solicitors involved in the process, but it can often pay to have peace of mind that the paperwork has been completed correctly. You will still need to have your will witnessed and signed for it to be legally valid.

There is no expiry date on a Lasting Power of Attorney – it will only cease to be valid upon the death of the donor (the person who the LPA enables decisions to be made on behalf of). However, an LPA can also be cancelled by the donor or an executor, should they no longer wish for it to come into effect.

An LPA offers a comprehensive solution for an executor to make financial, property and health decisions on behalf of the donor. They replaced EPAs in 2007, though existing EPAs will remain legally enforceable if signed prior to 1st October 2007. Only LPAs can now be created and registered.

Lasting Powers of Attorney are split into two different types – Financial and Property affairs, and Health and Welfare. A Financial and Property LPAs allow an executor to take decisions relating to a donors finances and property, at a time when the donor is incapacitated and unable to make those decisions themselves. Similarly, a Health and Welfare LPA allows an executor to take decisions regarding the medical welfare of the donor when they are unable to do so themselves.

n the UK, a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows an individual, known as the ‘donor,’ to appoint one or more people, called ‘attorneys,’ to make decisions on their behalf. This arrangement comes into play if the donor loses the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves in the future. There are two types of LPA: one for property and financial affairs, which includes handling bank accounts, property, and investments, and another for health and welfare, which covers decisions about medical care, living arrangements, and daily routines. An LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian to be valid.