Lasting power of attorney vs a will: what each one actually covers (UK)
18 August 2026 · Inherit Vault
Here's the whole thing in one line. A lasting power of attorney works while you're alive and stops dead the moment you die. A will does nothing at all until you die. They don't overlap, and having one is no help whatsoever with the job the other does.
What an LPA is for
An LPA lets someone you trust act for you while you're still here but can't manage things yourself. There are two kinds. Property and financial affairs covers banks, bills, selling the house, and you can allow it to be used while you still have capacity if that suits you. Health and welfare covers care and medical decisions and can only be used once you've lost capacity. Both have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used at all, and registration takes weeks, not days. Making one when you're well is the entire point: you can't make one once capacity has gone.
What happens if there isn't one
Your family has to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as deputy. That means an application fee, supporting evidence, often a supervision fee every year afterwards, and a wait measured in months while the bills carry on arriving. It's the expensive, slow version of a document that costs a fraction of that to put in place beforehand. Meanwhile the bank won't talk to anyone, because being someone's husband or daughter gives you no legal authority over their account.
The line at the moment of death
An attorney's authority ends immediately on death. Carrying on using the account to pay the funeral, however sensibly meant, is acting without authority. From that moment it's the executor named in the will who has the power, and the bank will want to see the death certificate and usually the grant of probate. Two different people can hold these roles, and often do.
The thing attorneys can't do
An attorney can't write or change your will. Not with the best will in the world, not with the whole family agreeing. Altering a will for someone who has lost capacity needs a statutory will from the Court of Protection, which is a proper court application with its own costs and delay. So if your will is out of date, the window to fix it is now, while you still can.
Most people have one of the two, usually the will, and assume it covers the other situation. It doesn't. The pairing that actually works is a current will, a registered LPA, and a note somewhere findable saying where both of them live.
Sorting this out for someone else? Make sure your family never has to.
Most of the time goes on finding out what the person had and who to call. Inherit Vault keeps that list for you: your accounts, pensions and policies, and where your will is kept. Only you can read it. Your executor gets it when it is needed.
Read more
- How to find out if someone left a will you don't know about (UK)
- Letter of wishes: what it is, and why it isn't the same as your will (UK)
- Bona vacantia: what happens when someone dies with no will and no traceable family (UK)
- What happens if you die without a will? Intestacy rules explained (UK)
- Where should you store your will? Options compared (England & Wales)