This post will tell you exactly what information and decisions you need to make to complete your Lasting Power of Attorneys. 

This is a practical, action focussed guide and if you aren’t familiar with the language around making LPA’s, this guide will help you understand. 

After you have worked your way through the steps in this post you will have everything you need to complete the LPA forms.

Let’s get started.

Step 1:  Decide which LPA you are completing

There are two types of LPA. 

• Health and Welfare
• Property and Financial Affairs

You can find more about these two types in Chapter 1.

The process for completing them is very similar, you need all the same information for both.  However, there is one additional, and different, decision for each.  Health and money emotive subjects, but health perhaps more so. For this reason, if you are doing both, I suggest you start with the Property and Financial Affairs LPA. 

It’s important to realise that while the decisions are the same for both types of LPA, the people you choose to be your attorney, deputy attorney or certificate provide need not be the same. You can choose whoever you think will be most suitable for managing each of these areas.   

Step 2:  Decide whether you want to complete the forms yourself, or use a legal representative to do it for you.

It is straightforward to complete the online forms yourself.  The guidance is clear and well signposted.  If you have worked your way through this post and have all the information to hand, it can be done in around 20 minutes*.    

If you prefer paper forms you can download these and complete them.  However, I really do think the online form is  easier because the relevant guidance is signposted in exactly the right place – whereas with the paper form you need to read through all the guidance to find the part you need.

Alternatively, if you feel that the DIY approach is not for you, then a solicitor can take care of the process for you (for a fee).  You will still need to make all the same decisions set out in this post whichever route you take.  

* This is just the time to complete the form.  As mentioned in Chapter 5, the time for the whole process is a lot longer. 

Step 3:  Decide on your attorneys and whether they need to act together or if they can each act both separately and together

You will need to decide how many attorneys to have.  Attorneys must be age 18 or over, have the mental capacity to make decisions and not be bankrupt or subject to a debt relief order. 

Your attorneys will be making important decisions on your behalf. It is important that you trust them and expect to have an ongoing close relationship with them.  For this reason it is typical to use relatives, although you can use anyone provided they meet the conditions above.

For each attorney you need the following information:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Postal address
• email address

There is no maximum to the number of attorneys you may have, but you’ll probably want to keep it manageable by not having too many.  

If you have more than one attorney you will need to decide whether you want them to always agree before they can act (jointly) or allow them to make decisions both on their own or together (jointly and severally). 

It is possible to state that they must act jointly for some decisions and jointly and severally for others.  If you select this option, you’ll need to enter which decisions are to be agreed jointly into the form. 

It is most common for attorneys to be allowed to act jointly and severally. 

Step 4:  Decide on any replacement attorneys

A replacement attorney will step in if an original attorney can no longer act, for example if they lose their own mental capacity or die. 

You do not need to add any replacements but if you don’t then the LPA may stop working.

You may have more than one replacement attorney.

You will need the full name, address and date of birth of your replacement attorney(s). 

You will also need to decide whether you want the deputy to be able to act when one or all of your original attorneys can no longer act. 

If your original attorneys are acting jointly and severally and you have more than one replacement attorney you may specify the order in which your replacements step in.   (If the original attorneys act jointly then all your replacement attorneys will step in at the same time.)

Step 5:  Decide upon your ‘Certificate Provider’

Your LPA needs to be signed by an impartial person, who has known you for at least 2 years, who ensures that you understand what you are doing.  This includes ensuring that no-one has put you under pressure to make the LPA and there is no fraud or other cause for concern.

This person is called the Certificate Provider.  They need to be over 18 and cannot also be one of your attorneys or replacement attorneys, a member of their families or their unmarried partner.  They must be independent of you and the attorneys.  This includes not being your business partner or employee, not being one of your attorney’s business partners or employees and not being anyone working for a care home in which you might live.

You will need their name and address.

Step 6:  People to Notify

This is an optional step.  You may include details of up to 5 people you want to notify about the LPA and give them a chance to raise any concerns.

This is helpful if you think there may be challenges to the legitimacy of your LPA.  For example someone might suspect that you have been pressurised to appoint a particular attorney or be disgruntled that you did not appoint them and wish to get control of your affairs.   To head this off you can notify these people of your intentions before your LPA is registered. 

Once notified, the notified person can get involved if they are suspicious of what is happening.   They are informed of the process before the LPA is registered and have a chance to object.  If they make no objections before registration, it would be difficult for them to be made afterwards.  Including a person to notify is therefore a way of reducing the chance that the person might object later but it can also be used as a courtesy to those who might have an interest in your affairs. 

You will need their full name, date of birth and address. 

Step 7:  Preferences and instructions

This step is optional but if you want to leave your attorneys preferences or instructions as to how to manage your affairs you can.

Instructions are things you say your attorneys must or must not do when making decisions on their behalf.  They are legally binding.

Preferences are things you say you would like your attorneys to think about when making decisions.

Your Lasting Power of Attorney can only be changed in a limited number of circumstances (for example, the change of address of one of your attorneys).  If you want to change your instructions or preferences in future you would need to revoke your LPA and create a new one so if you include instructions or preferences you should take care over this section.

If you think there is a good chance your preferences will change in future you may want to consider a separate Statement of Wishes.   This is a separate document, kept with the LPAs that can be updated whenever you choose.   In the preference section of the LPA you can then say you would like your attorneys to act in accordance with your Statement of Wishes and note where it is kept.   You then have to create a separate Statement of Wishes document and keep it up to date and safe.   (Currently mine simply says ‘I have no preferences’ but I would update it my circumstances change.)

This is a good way to maintain some flexibility over your preferences and provides an element of future-proofing, particularly if you are making your LPA while you are fit and healthy and don’t know how long it might be until it is used.

You can’t take this approach with instructions.   If you want legally binding instructions then they must be included in the LPA.   

Your attorneys must act in your interests so care needs to be taken that any instructions you make don’t conflict with your own interests.   An example of a conflicting circumstance might be that you instruct your attorney to donate £1,000 to charity each year, but doing so would leave you with insufficient funds to pay for your own living costs.   This would leave your attorney in a difficult situation.  Legal advisors can help you construct your instructions so as to avoid such circumstances.

Step 8:  Other decisions

Up to this point you the process is identical for both types of LPA.  However, there are two decisions needed which only relate to one type.

For Property and Financial Affairs LPA: 

You need to decide when the LPA can be used.  You have two options:

• as soon as it is registered (most common) or
• only when you have lost mental capacity. 

If you complete the online forms this is one of the first questions you need to answer, but I have put it at the end of this guide to keep a better flow.

(For the Health and Welfare LPA there is no decision to make here as it can only be used once you have lost mental capacity.)

For the Health and Welfare LPA: 

You will need to decide whether you will permit your attorneys to make decisions about your care or whether the medical staff should make these decisions.

With the above information from the steps above you have all you need to complete the forms for you LPA.   Hop over to 7: Completing LPA forms to find out how.