England & Wales

England & Wales

Related services

The information below tells you how to create, register, or object to the registration of and revoke (cancel) a power of attorney. You will also find the answers to some frequently asked questions.

Create a power of attorney

There are different types of powers of attorney (PoA). Which one you choose will depend on what you want to use it for.

The section 'Create a power of attorney' discusses:

Register a power of attorney

The general PoA (GPA) is effective as soon as it is signed, but it automatically loses its effectiveness when the person (the 'donor') who made it, becomes mentally incapable of managing their own affairs. It can't be registered and therefore can't be used once the donor has lost mental capacity.

The lasting power of attorney (LPA) must be registered to be effective. The enduring power of attorney (EPA) is effective as soon as it is signed and only needs to be registered when the donor becomes mentally incapable of managing their own affairs, for it to remain effective.

See the section, 'Register a power of attorney' for the steps you need to take when registering an Enduring power of attorney and a Lasting power of attorney.

Before registering an EPA certain people must be notified of your intention to do so, while you only have to notify certain people of your intention to register an LPA if the donor selected such persons. For more information, see the article on how to give Notice of intention to register.

Object to registration

There may be situations where you wish to object to the registration of a PoA.

The steps you will need to take to object will depend on the type of PoA and whether you are the donor, the attorney, a person notified of the intention to register it or a concerned friend or relative.

The section 'Objecting to registration' sets out what you need to do to object to the registration of a Lasting power of attorney and an Enduring power of attorney.

Revoke a power of attorney

When a PoA is revoked it becomes invalid and the authority of the attorney(s) appointed to act on the donor's behalf ends.

If you have created a PoA that you wish to revoke, you will find more information in the article How to revoke a power of attorney.

Power of attorney FAQs

Some of the most frequently asked questions relating to PoAs are set out in a 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQs) article. Answers to the following questions may be found there:

1. What is a power of attorney?

2. Do I need a lasting power of attorney?

3. What is mental capacity?

4. What can I do as a carer?

5. What is the Court of Protection?

6. What is the Public Guardian?

7. What is a deputy?

Other jurisdictions

This information is only applicable to PoAs for England & Wales. If you need information on Northern Ireland or Scotland, you can read our article on these topics.

Copyright © 2024 Epoq Group Ltd. All trademarks acknowledged, all rights reserved

This website is operated by Epoq Legal Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 3707955, whose registered office is at 2 Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JN. Epoq Legal Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 645296).

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We would also like to set some optional cookies. We won't set these optional cookies unless you enable them. Please choose whether this site may use optional cookies by selecting 'On' or 'Off' for each category below. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie notice.

Necessary cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functionality cookies

We'd like to set cookies to provide you with a better customer experience. For more information on these cookies, please see our cookie notice.