Every lasting power of attorney has one unavoidable cost: the Office of the Public Guardian charges £82 to register each LPA. Everything else depends on how much help you buy getting the document right. Since there are two types of LPA and registration is per document per person, the arithmetic multiplies faster than people expect: a couple making both types pays four registration fees, £328, before any help at all.
Fee reductions exist and are underused
If your gross annual income is under £12,000, the registration fee halves to £41 per LPA. If you receive certain means-tested benefits, income support, income-based ESA or JSA, guarantee credit, and others, registration can be free. You apply with form LPA120 alongside registration. Anyone arranging LPAs for an elderly parent on a small pension should check this before paying full price.
The three routes and what they cost
- Do it yourself: free beyond the £82 fee, using the government forms. The catch is error: thousands of applications are rejected every year for signing in the wrong order, missing sections and witnessing mistakes, at £41 to resubmit and weeks lost. The forms look simple; the execution rules are not.
- Guided online service with solicitor review: Willful prepares either LPA for £99 per document, the official forms completed from a guided interview, checked by an SRA-regulated solicitor, with signing instructions in the right order. The £82 fee is paid to the OPG on top, as it is on every route.
- High-street solicitor: typically £300 to £600 for one LPA and £400 to £900 for a pair, plus the fees. Worth it where capacity is already borderline, family conflict is live, or the estate has real complexity; more than most situations need.
The comparison that puts every number in context
The real alternative to an LPA is not "no paperwork". It is what your family must do if you lose capacity with no LPA in place: apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship. That means a £421 application fee, a £320 annual supervision fee, a security bond, professional assessments of capacity, and months of waiting while accounts stay frozen. Ongoing, forever, with annual reports to the court. Against that, a few hundred pounds spent once, in advance, is not really a cost decision at all.
Timing is part of the price
An LPA can only be made while you have mental capacity. Wait too long and no amount of money buys one; the deputyship route is all that remains. That is why the standard advice is to make LPAs at the same time as your will, while the whole subject is open on the table. Willful’s LPA service is built for exactly that: both documents, one sitting, £99 each, reviewed before you sign, with the registration paperwork prepared so the £82 is the only thing left to pay the government.