Lasting power of attorney: acting as an attorney

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1. Overview

You can make decisions on someone’s behalf if they appoint you using a lasting power of attorney (LPA).

You can contact GOV.UK to request this guide in another format, for example large print or braille.

The person who appoints you is called the ‘donor’. You’re their ‘attorney’.

You do not need any legal experience to act as someone’s attorney.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

Before you start acting as an attorney

Prepare by talking to the donor so you’re ready to make decisions in their best interests. For example, ask about their plans for their money or how they want to be cared for if they become seriously ill.

Make sure the LPA has been registered - you cannot start acting until it is. It can take up to 20 weeks to register a lasting power of attorney. A registered LPA will be stamped with ‘validated-OPG’.

Check the types of decisions you can make and when you can start acting as a:

• property and financial affairs attorney
• health and welfare attorney

After you start acting as an attorney

You must:

• follow any instructions the donor included in the LPA
• consider any preferences the donor included in the LPA
• help the donor make their own decisions as much as they can
• make any decisions in the donor’s best interests
• respect their human and civil rights

You must make the decisions yourself - you cannot ask someone to make them for you.

Find out how to make decisions for someone else including how to get help making difficult decisions. Your decisions can be checked.

If you’re not the only attorney

Check the LPA. It will tell you whether you must make decisions:

• ‘jointly’ - this means all the attorneys must agree
• ‘jointly and severally’ - this means you can make decisions together or on your own

The LPA may tell you to make some decisions ‘jointly’ and others ‘jointly and severally’.

Find out what to do if you make decisions jointly with someone who stops acting as an attorney.

2. Property and financial affairs attorneys

As a property and financial affairs attorney, you make (or help the donor make) decisions about things like:

• money, tax and bills
• bank and building society accounts
• property and investments
• pensions and benefits

You can start making decisions while the donor still has mental capacity if both:

• the lasting power of attorney (LPA) says you can
• the donor gives you permission

Otherwise, you can only start making decisions when they do not have mental capacity.

You can use the donor’s money to look after their home and buy anything they need day to day (for example, food).

Discuss decisions that affect the donor’s living arrangements, medical care or daily routine with their health and welfare attorney, if they have one.

Example

If you decide to sell the donor’s home, discuss where the donor will live with their health and welfare attorney.

Looking after money and property

You must keep the donor’s finances separate from your own, unless you’ve already got something in both of your names like a joint bank account or you own a home together.

Managing the donor’s money and accounts

Banks and other organisations (such as utility companies and pension providers) will ask for proof that you are an attorney. Use your lasting power of attorney to prove you can act for the donor.

You may need to prove other details, such as:

• your name, address and date of birth
• the donor’s name or address

You might also need to provide other information, such as an account number.

Spending money on gifts or donations

Unless the LPA states otherwise, you can spend money on:

• gifts to a donor’s friend, family member or acquaintance on occasions when you would normally give gifts (such as birthdays or anniversaries)
• donations to a charity that the donor would not object to, for example a charity they’ve donated to before

You must apply to the Court of Protection for any other type of gift or donation, even if the donor has given them before. These include:

• paying someone’s school or university fees
• letting someone live in the donor’s property without paying market rent (anything they pay below market rent counts as a gift)
• interest-free loans

You must check that the donor can afford the gift or donation, even if they’ve spent money on these types of things before. For example, you cannot donate their money if that would mean they could not afford their care costs.

Read the guidance for more information on giving gifts or donations.

Buying and selling property

You’ll need to get legal advice if:

• the sale is below the market value
• you want to buy the property yourself
• you’re giving it to someone else

Making a will

You can apply for a statutory will if the donor needs to make a will but cannot do it themselves.

You cannot change a donor’s will.

You can be ordered to repay the donor’s money if you misuse it or make decisions to benefit yourself.

3. Health and welfare attorneys

As a health and welfare attorney, you make (or help the donor make) decisions about things like:

• daily routine, for example washing, dressing and eating
• medical care
• where the donor lives

You can only make decisions when the donor does not have mental capacity to make them.

You must tell people involved in the donor’s care when you start making decisions. This includes the donor’s:

• friends and family
• doctor and other healthcare staff
• care workers, social worker and other social care staff

You may need to use your lasting power of attorney to prove to staff that you can act for the donor.

Using the donor’s money

You might need to spend the donor’s money on things that maintain or improve their quality of life. This can include:

• new clothes or hairdressing
• decorating their home or room in a care home
• paying for extra support so the donor can go out more, for example to visit friends or relatives or to go on holiday

You must ask for money from the person in charge of the donor’s funds.

Refusing or consenting to treatment

Check the lasting power of attorney (LPA) for instructions about refusing or consenting to treatment.

You’ll need to:

• show the LPA to care staff
• sign medical consent forms
• make decisions in the donor’s best interests

You cannot always make decisions about the donor’s medical treatment, for example if the donor’s made a living will or has been sectioned.

Living wills (‘advance decisions’)

This is a legal statement from the donor about which medical treatments they do not want. You’ll need to give this to care staff along with the LPA.

NHS Choices has information about advance decisions.

Apply for a one-off decision

You may need to apply for a one-off decision from the Court of Protection to make a decision about a medical treatment if:

• the living will and LPA give different instructions
• the medical staff or the donor’s friends and family disagree about whether the treatment should be given

4. Using your lasting power of attorney

The lasting power of attorney (LPA) must be registered before you can start acting as an attorney.

Any organisation you deal with on behalf of the donor can ask you to prove you’re the attorney. You can:

• show them the original LPA
• show them a certified copy of the LPA
• give them access to view an online summary of the LPA

They may also ask you to prove other details, such as:

• your name, address and date of birth
• the donor’s name or address

You may need to provide other information, such as an account number.

Check what proof they need, and how you should share this with them, before sending any documents.

Getting a certified copy of the LPA

The donor can certify copies of the LPA if they can still make their own decisions.

A solicitor or notary can also certify copies of the LPA - they charge a fee for this.

Using the LPA online

You can create an account to use a lasting power of attorney summary online if your LPA was made after 1 January 2016.

If the LPA was registered before 1 January 2016, you’ll need to show the paper LPA to people or organisations instead.

You’ll be able to generate an access code for each organisation that needs to view the LPA.

Check that the organisation will accept an online summary of the LPA.

5. Records and expenses

Keep a record of:

• important decisions you make and when, for example selling the donor’s home or agreeing to medical treatment
• the donor’s assets, income and how you spend their money - if you’re their finance and property affairs attorney

Include details of who you asked for advice and any disagreements.

Do not include small, everyday decisions.

Expenses

You can only claim expenses for things you must do to carry out your role as an attorney, for example:

• hiring a professional to do things like fill in the donor’s tax return
• travel costs
• stationery
• postage
• phone calls

You can be ordered to repay the donor’s money if you misuse it or make decisions to benefit yourself.

Keep your receipts and invoice the donor for your expenses. The money is paid by whoever’s in charge of the donor’s funds.

6. Checks and visits

The Office of the Public Guardian and Court of Protection can check your decisions. They may:

• arrange a visit with you and the donor together, or the donor alone
• contact other people such as the donor’s family, bank or care workers

They can investigate and stop you acting as an attorney if, for example:

• you’ve done something the lasting power of attorney (LPA) says you cannot
• you have not done something the LPA has instructed you to do
• you have not been acting in the donor’s best interests
• you misuse the donor’s money or make decisions to benefit yourself
• you do something that goes against their human or civil rights
• the donor is not being treated well
• the donor made the LPA under pressure or they were tricked into it

7. Changes you need to report

You must tell the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) if:

• you or the donor change name or address
• the donor, or another attorney, dies
• you start acting as a replacement attorney
• you choose to stop acting as an attorney

The donor can also report changes to a lasting power of attorney (LPA) if they have mental capacity to make decisions.

If you or the donor change name or address

You must tell OPG if you or the donor changes name and send a copy of the marriage certificate or deed poll that shows the new name. Do not send any original documents.

You must tell OPG if you or the donor changes address, but you do not need to send any supporting documents.

Do not make changes to the LPA document itself, as it might become invalid.

If the donor or another attorney dies

You must tell OPG and send them the original LPA and all certified copies.

If the donor or attorney died outside of the United Kingdom, you must also send a copy of the death certificate.

What happens to the existing LPA

OPG will cancel the LPA if the donor dies, or if an attorney dies and either:

• the attorneys had to make all decisions together - this is called acting ‘jointly’
• there was only one attorney

A cancelled LPA will be destroyed. If you want OPG to send it back instead, include a note asking for its return along with a return address.

If an attorney dies and the attorneys were able to make any decisions on their own (called acting ‘jointly and severally’), OPG will update the LPA instead. You must include a return address when you send the LPA.

If you start acting as a replacement attorney

You must let OPG know when you start acting as a replacement attorney. You’ll also need to send them:

• the original LPA
• all certified copies of the LPA
• a return address for OPG to send your documents back to you

You’ll be able to start helping a donor make decisions as soon as the attorney you’re replacing stops acting.

Check the LPA to see if there are other attorneys you need to make decisions with after you start acting as an attorney.

Contact OPG

Office of the Public Guardian
customerservices@publicguardian.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 456 0300
Textphone: 0115 934 2778
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9am to 5pm
Wednesday, 10am to 5pm
Find out about call charges

Office of the Public Guardian
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH

If you email or write to OPG you should include:

• your full name, address and date of birth
• whether you are the attorney or the donor
• the donor’s full name address and date of birth (if you are the attorney)
• the reference number on your LPA

8. Stop acting as an attorney

The lasting power of attorney (LPA) ends when the donor dies. You must report the death of a donor to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

Stopping before the donor dies

You can choose to stop acting as an attorney - sometimes called ‘disclaiming’ an attorneyship.

There are also some cases in which the law requires you to stop acting as an attorney.

Any replacement attorneys listed in the LPA will take over if you stop.

If there are no replacements, there may be other ways to help the donor make decisions.

If you choose to stop

Fill in and send a notification form to:

• the donor - if the LPA has not been registered
• the donor and OPG (at the address on the form) - if the LPA is registered
• any other attorneys appointed on the LPA

When you have to stop

You must stop acting as an attorney if:

• the donor takes you off their LPA - sometimes called ‘revoking’ an attorney
• you lose mental capacity and cannot make decisions any more
• you’re a property and financial affairs attorney and you become bankrupt or subject to a debt relief order
• you’re married to or in a civil partnership with the donor and you get a divorce or an annulment (unless the LPA says you can keep acting as an attorney)
• you’re a joint attorney and another attorney stops acting, unless the LPA says you can carry on making decisions