Lasting Powers of Attorney:
Why Most Are Drafted Badly, and What Good Ones Include
A Lasting Power of Attorney is the document that decides who speaks for you when you can't speak for yourself. Most are drafted in minutes from an online template. The consequences of getting it wrong are felt only when it's too late to fix.
A Lasting Power of Attorney — LPA — is, in many families, the most important document no one thinks about. It sits in a drawer, registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, doing nothing until the day it is needed. On that day, it determines who can access bank accounts, sell property, and make medical decisions. By then, it is too late to redraft it.
England and Wales recognise two LPAs: one for Property and Financial Affairs, one for Health and Welfare. The mechanics are straightforward. The drafting decisions within them are not.
Why Most LPAs Are Drafted Badly
The forms are publicly available. Most LPAs in the UK are drafted without legal advice — and the structural choices within them are made without the donor properly understanding what those choices mean.
Five decisions, in particular, are routinely made badly. Each has a default option on the form. Each default is wrong for a meaningful proportion of donors. And each, once registered, is difficult and slow to change — usually requiring a full revocation, which cannot be done if the donor has by then lost capacity.
The Five Decisions That Matter
How attorneys must act.
"Jointly" means they must agree on every decision; if one cannot act, the LPA fails entirely. "Jointly and severally" allows for independent action – faster but less protective. The middle option — jointly for some decisions, severally for others — is rarely used, even though it is often the most sensible structure. This is the single most common cause of LPAs failing in practice.
When the financial LPA takes effect.
It can be drafted to take effect immediately on registration, or only when the donor loses capacity. Templates default to the latter. The immediate option is often more practical for donors facing degenerative conditions, those who travel, or those who want to delegate routine administration.
Guidance and preferences.
These sections allow the donor to tell their attorneys how to make decisions. Used well, they shape behaviour through years of decisions that the donor cannot anticipate. Used badly — left blank or filled with unenforceable language — they produce confusion or invalidate the LPA.
Replacement attorneys.
If the named attorneys cannot act and no replacement has been named, the LPA fails. Naming replacements is straightforward and disproportionately valuable.
Restrictions and conditions.
Limits on attorneys' powers – requirements to consult family members, prohibitions on certain investments – can prevent disputes and protect vulnerable donors. They need careful drafting: too vague to enforce, or too tight to allow practical action, are both common failures.
The Health and Welfare LPA
Routinely overlooked. Without one, no individual — not a spouse, not an adult child — has legal authority to make medical and welfare decisions on the donor's behalf. Decisions about care, treatment, and where the donor lives fall by default to medical professionals and, in disputes, to the Court of Protection. The cost of not having one can be measured in months of proceedings and family disputes the document would have prevented.
What a Good LPA Includes
A properly drafted LPA is shaped to the donor — not to the form. Attorneys are chosen with care. Replacements are named. Conditions and preferences give real guidance without preventing practical action. Both LPAs are put in place together. The donor understands what they have signed.
The time required is modest — usually an hour or two of focused conversation. The cost is more than an online template, but a small fraction of the cost of resolving a poorly drafted one later. Unlike most planning documents, the LPA's quality is only ever tested when the donor has no further ability to influence the outcome.
Wills, Tax & Trusts Ltd. advises high-net-worth families, business owners, and professional advisers on estate planning, inheritance tax, and trust structures. Every LPA is drafted by a STEP-qualified practitioner and reviewed by a partner before release. If you are considering an LPA — or reviewing one that was drafted some years ago — we offer an initial conversation to assess what is in place and what should be.
Meet the Author
Ray L. Best is the founder and senior adviser at Wills, Tax & Trusts Ltd. With over 15 years in practice and more than 1,000 complex estates counselled, Ray specialises in high-net-worth estate planning, trust structuring, and strategic IHT navigation. His narrative-driven books are designed to strip away dense legal jargon, giving families and professional advisers the clarity they need to protect their legacy before the technical planning even begins.
