Guidance

How to be an attorney

Detailed guides for people making property and finance or health and welfare decisions under a lasting power of attorney.

• From: Office of the Public Guardian
• Published: 21 July 2016
• Last updated: 16 June 2020 — See all updates

Applies to England and Wales

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland

Documents

LP14: How to be a property and finances attorney (web version)

HTML

LP15: How to be a health and welfare attorney (web version)

HTML

lp14-how-to-be-a-property-and-finances-attorney

PDF, 183 KB, 21 pages

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lp15-how-to-be-an-attorney-health-and-welfare-print

PDF, 320 KB, 32 pages

Guidance for people wanting to manage a bank account for someone else

PDF, 273 KB, 9 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

These leaflets are for people appointed as attorneys under a lasting power of attorney (LPA) or who are considering taking on that role.

They include things to think about before becoming an attorney and answer common questions people have while acting as an attorney. The leaflets use plenty of case studies to help attorneys make decisions.

The leaflets cover:

• registering an LPA
• what tasks you’ll undertake as an attorney
• when you start acting as an attorney
• what mental capacity means
• how to help the donor make decisions
• understanding best interests
• claiming expenses as an attorney
• stopping being an attorney

Published 21 July 2016
Last updated 16 June 2020 + show all updates

1. 16 June 2020

   Court of Protection fee changed from "at least £400" to £365

2. 26 October 2016

   Added translation

3. 12 August 2016

   Added HTML versions of these guides

4. 21 July 2016

   First published.