Lasting Power of Attorney — Property and Financial vs Health and Welfare

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint one or more trusted people — your attorneys — to make decisions on your behalf if you lose the mental capacity to make those decisions yourself. Introduced by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and replacing the older enduring power of attorney, the LPA comes in two distinct types: a property and financial affairs LPA, and a health and welfare LPA. Each type covers a different area of your life, must be registered separately with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), and operates under different rules. Having both in place gives your attorneys comprehensive authority to manage your affairs if the worst happens.

LPAs are among the most important legal documents a person can make, yet they are frequently postponed until a crisis forces the issue. By the time a person loses capacity — whether through dementia, a stroke, a serious accident, or the progression of a degenerative disease — it is too late to make an LPA. The process requires mental capacity at the time of signing: if a person no longer has capacity, the only route to legal management of their affairs is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship, which is slower, more expensive, and more restrictive than an LPA made in advance.

This guide explains what each type of LPA covers, the key differences between them, how to make and register an LPA, and how to choose your attorneys. For guidance on what happens if someone loses capacity without an LPA in place, see our dedicated guide. For the interaction between LPAs and estate administration, see our estate administration guide.

What Is a Property and Financial Affairs LPA?

A property and financial affairs LPA gives your attorney authority to manage all financial matters on your behalf. Once registered with the OPG, the attorney can — subject to any restrictions you specify in the document — manage your bank and savings accounts, receive income on your behalf, pay your bills and outgoings, buy and sell property, deal with investments and pensions, and make gifts from your assets within HMRC guidelines. Importantly, the property and financial affairs LPA can be used while you still have mental capacity as well as if you lose it — unlike the health and welfare LPA — provided you have not restricted its use in the document.

This type of LPA is particularly valuable for managing day-to-day financial affairs, especially where a person’s mobility or health has deteriorated even without a formal loss of capacity. It is also essential planning for people who travel frequently, who have complex financial arrangements, or who simply want the reassurance of knowing that a trusted person can step in if needed. Your attorney under a property and financial LPA is subject to the same overarching duties as any attorney: they must act in your best interests, have regard to your past and present wishes and feelings, consider all relevant circumstances, and keep accurate records of every transaction they make on your behalf.

What Is a Health and Welfare LPA?

A health and welfare LPA gives your attorney authority to make decisions about your personal welfare, medical treatment, and day-to-day care. These decisions can include: where you live (including whether you go into a care home); your daily routine and diet; what medical treatment you receive; who has contact with you; and — if you expressly grant this authority in the document — whether to consent to or refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf. The health and welfare LPA can only be used when you have lost the mental capacity to make the relevant decision yourself. It cannot be used simply for convenience while you still have capacity, unlike the property and financial LPA.

The authority to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment is one of the most significant powers that can be given in a health and welfare LPA. Without express authority in the LPA, an attorney cannot refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf — the decision would fall to the medical team with the patient’s best interests as the guiding standard. Making your wishes clear in an advance decision to refuse treatment, combined with a health and welfare LPA naming a trusted attorney, gives you the most complete control over your end-of-life care. HMRC and OPG provide official guidance on making a lasting power of attorney at GOV.UK.

Key Differences Between the Two Types of LPA

The most important practical difference is when each type can be used. A property and financial affairs LPA can be activated immediately on registration and used while the donor still has capacity (subject to any restrictions written into the document). A health and welfare LPA can only be used once the donor has lost capacity to make the relevant decision — it cannot be invoked for convenience.

The decision-making standards also differ. For financial decisions, the attorney exercises a relatively objective standard: what is in the donor’s best financial interests. For health and welfare decisions, the attorney must additionally consider the donor’s past and present wishes, feelings, beliefs, and values — a more nuanced and subjective standard that requires the attorney to attempt to make the decision the donor would have made if they still had capacity. This is known as the substituted judgment standard.

The two LPAs should be made together wherever possible. Making only a financial LPA leaves your attorneys without authority to make health and care decisions; making only a health and welfare LPA leaves your financial affairs unmanaged. A single set of instructions to a solicitor can produce both documents, registered with the OPG, for a fixed fee. For context on how LPAs interact with the executor role and estate planning, see our LPA guide.

How to Register an LPA: The OPG Process

An LPA is not valid until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. The process involves: the donor signing the LPA in the presence of a certificate provider (a person who confirms the donor has capacity and is not being pressured); the attorneys signing their acceptance of the role; and the document being submitted to the OPG with the registration fee. In 2026, the registration fee is £82 per LPA. If both types are being registered, the total fee is £164.

The OPG checks the form for errors and notifies the donor and any people the donor named as persons to be notified. There is a four-week waiting period to allow anyone to raise a concern before registration is completed. The OPG typically completes registration within eight to ten weeks of receiving a correctly completed application. Registration cannot be rushed significantly, which is why it is important to make and register LPAs while capacity is intact and without the pressure of an imminent health crisis.

Choosing Your Attorneys: Practical Guidance

Choosing attorneys is the most important decision in the LPA process. Attorneys must be at least 18 years old. For a property and financial affairs LPA, the attorney cannot be bankrupt. Beyond those requirements, the law leaves the choice entirely to the donor. An attorney can be a family member, friend, or a professional such as a solicitor — but the key qualities to look for are trustworthiness, organisation, availability, and an ability to act in the donor’s interests rather than their own. You can appoint multiple attorneys to act jointly (all must agree on every decision), jointly and severally (any one can act alone), or jointly for some decisions and severally for others. The choice affects how practical the arrangement is and how it functions if one attorney dies or loses capacity themselves. For context on how professional attorneys interact with estate administration, see our executor duties guide.

Written by Simon Jenkins, SRA 167489, Solicitor at Curtis Legal Limited (SRA 450129). For advice on making lasting powers of attorney, call freephone 0800 214 216 or request a same-day callback.