A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows a person to appoint someone they trust to make decisions for them if they are unable to do so themselves due to reasons of illness or incapacity. 

There are two types of LPA:
Health and Welfare which allows a person to appoint an attorney to make decisions about their care, daily routines, medical treatment and living arrangements if they lose capacity to make those decisions themselves; and 

• Property and Financial Affairs, which allows a person to appoint an attorney to manage their finances, bank accounts, property and other financial matters. It can be used when a person still has mental capacity with the permission of the donor. 

What will it cost? 

Every Lasting Power of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian and the OPG charge a fee for this.

If your total annual income is below £12,000 you may be entitled to a 50% fee remission. If it is, please inform us of this when instructing us so we may apply for the fee remission. 

Example costs 
We offer a discounted rate to any person who instructs us to prepare both types of LPA for the same individual. The total cost for a person to instruct us to prepare and register their Lasting Power(s) of Attorney is as follows: 

How long will it take?
It normally takes up to 2-3 weeks from the first appointment for your Lasting Power(s) of Attorney to be signed and completed, however, there are many variable factors that could cause it to take longer including: 

• Your availability to meet for an appointment; 
• The availability of you and your Attorneys to meet to execute the document. LPA’s must be signed in a specific order and so if any of your Attorneys cannot attend our offices to sign the LPA this may delay its completion. 

Once the LPA’s have been completed they must be sent to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration. It can take between 2 and 8 weeks for these to be processed and there is then a 4 week cooling off period before the document can be registered. We will then be sent the original documents and we will contact you to arrange for these to be provided to you. 

What work would you be doing for me?
Our team will assist and advise  you throughout the process. 
The work that we will carry out for you includes:

• Meeting with you to take your instructions; 
• Advising you on the roles and responsibilities of Attorneys and any Replacement Attorneys; 
• Advising you on any special requests you may wish to make; 
• Advising you on the specific instructions you must give regarding end of life care for the Health and Welfare LPA; 
• Advising you on the specific instructions you must give regarding when the Attorney shall have power under the Property and Financial Affairs LPA; 
• Arranging for the LPA to be certified, executed and witnessed in the correct order; 
• Registering the document(s) with the Office of the Public Guardian; and 
• Confirming the relevant information when the process is complete.