How Much Does an LPA Cost for a Couple?

By Matt Cresswell, Founder of Power of Attorney Online and author of
Everything you ever wanted to know about LPAs (but were afraid to ask)

26th August 2026

If you are planning ahead with your partner, How Much Does an LPA Cost for a Couple? is a useful question to answer before you start filling in forms. For most couples who want comprehensive protection, the calculation is straightforward: two people each need to consider two different types of Lasting Power of Attorney, meaning four documents in total. Each LPA currently costs £92 to register with the Office of the Public Guardian, so registering all four at the full rate would cost £368 in OPG fees alone. You can then choose whether to make the applications directly through GOV.UK, use an online LPA service for additional guidance and checking, or instruct a solicitor. The right option depends less on whether you are married or own everything jointly and more on whether you want someone legally authorised to act for each of you if either of you loses the ability to make your own decisions.

Why a couple usually needs four documents

There are two types of LPA in England and Wales.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA allows you to appoint someone to help manage your money and property. Depending on the authority you give them, this can cover things such as bank accounts, bills, pensions, benefits, investments and property.

A Health and Welfare LPA covers personal decisions such as care, where you live and certain medical decisions. It only comes into use when you lack the mental capacity to make the particular decision yourself.

They do different jobs. So if you and your partner both want both types of protection, the maths is:

Person	Property & Financial Affairs	Health & Welfare	OPG fee at £92 each
Person 1	1 LPA	1 LPA	£184
Person 2	1 LPA	1 LPA	£184
Couple total	2 LPAs	2 LPAs	£368

That £368 is the important starting point for a couple budgeting for four LPAs in 2026. It’s the registration fee, not the cost of having a solicitor or online provider prepare the applications.

And there is no special “couples” LPA fee. The OPG charges per LPA.

That means doing four applications at the same time does not reduce the statutory registration fee by itself.

The full cost of four LPAs in 2026

The cheapest option is also the one many people overlook because they assume making an LPA automatically means paying a solicitor.

It doesn’t. The government provides an online service and paper forms for making LPAs. You can make the applications yourself, provided you meet the requirements and complete the process correctly.

The trade-off is that you are responsible for understanding the questions, choosing the right options, completing the documents correctly and making sure the signing and registration process is followed.

For a couple, that means potentially doing four applications. Here is how the broad cost options compare.

Route	Preparation cost	OPG registration for 4 LPAs	Potential total before extras
GOV.UK direct	£0	£368	£368
Power of Attorney Online	£250 for a pair	£368	£618
Solicitor	Varies	£368	£368 + solicitor fees

Power of Attorney Online’s current price is £125 for a single LPA or £250 for a pair, plus the applicable OPG registration fees.

So for a couple making four LPAs, the service cost would be £500 and the OPG registration fees would be £368, giving a total of £868 before any other optional costs.

That’s not intended to suggest that everyone needs to pay for help. The GOV.UK route exists for precisely that reason.

The question is what level of support you want. If you’re comfortable navigating the forms yourself, the government route is the lowest-cost option.

If you want guided completion and an additional check before sending the applications away, an online service sits between the DIY route and traditional legal advice.

If your circumstances are complicated, a solicitor may be appropriate.

What you’re actually paying for

The £92 OPG fee and the cost of preparing an LPA are two different things. The OPG fee is charged by the government for registering the document.

It’s not a fee paid to an LPA provider.

That distinction is worth making because people sometimes see an online LPA service advertised at £125 and assume that includes everything.

It doesn’t. With Power of Attorney Online, the £125 covers the service for one LPA. The OPG registration fee is separate.

The value of an online service is therefore not that it somehow avoids the government fee.

It’s the help around the application itself.

For many people, that means having the questions explained in plain English, being guided through the process and having the completed application checked before it is submitted. Whether that is worth paying for is a personal decision.

For a straightforward application, the free GOV.UK route may be entirely suitable.

For someone who would rather have another layer of guidance and checking, paying for assistance can make sense.

Fee reductions and exemptions couples can miss

The £368 figure assumes that all four LPAs attract the full £92 registration fee.

That’s not always the case.

The OPG has a fee exemption and remission scheme based on the donor’s financial circumstances. That means each person is assessed in their own right. Being a couple does not automatically mean that both people receive the same fee treatment.

A donor receiving certain means-tested benefits may qualify for a full exemption.

Someone with income before tax below £12,000 a year may qualify for a 50% remission, meaning the LPA registration fee is currently £46 rather than £92.

This can make a noticeable difference for a couple. For example, if both people qualify for the 50% remission on all four LPAs, the OPG fees would be £184 rather than £368.

If one person qualifies for an exemption but the other does not, the calculation is different again.

Couple’s circumstances	Illustrative OPG cost for four LPAs
No reductions	£368
Both people qualify for 50% remission on both LPAs	£184
One person exempt, one pays full fee	£184
One person pays £46 per LPA, other pays £92 per LPA	£276

These are illustrations rather than assumptions about eligibility.

The OPG’s current guidance should be checked when you apply because the donor’s individual circumstances determine whether a reduction or exemption is available. Applications for help with fees need to be made alongside the LPA registration application.

There is also an important practical point.

Don’t assume that because one person qualifies, both people automatically qualify. Each donor has their own financial circumstances.

Why owning everything jointly does not protect you

This is one of the most common misconceptions among couples.

“We have a joint bank account.”

“Our house is in both names.”

“We’ve been married for 40 years.”

“We share everything.”

All of those things may be true. None of them means that one spouse automatically has legal authority to make every decision for the other.

Joint ownership and decision-making authority are not the same thing. A joint bank account may allow both account holders to operate the account.

That doesn’t mean the surviving or other account holder automatically has authority over their spouse’s separate savings, investments, pension arrangements or property interests.

And even with jointly owned property, there can be decisions that require both owners to participate. The government has specifically highlighted that a spouse or close family member cannot simply make many decisions on another person’s behalf without the appropriate legal authority.

This is why LPAs matter even for couples who have combined their finances.

The question is not only “Who owns this?”

It’s also: “Who can legally make the decision if one of us cannot?”

Those are different questions.

What happens if one partner loses capacity first?

This is where having four LPAs can suddenly stop looking like unnecessary paperwork.

Imagine a married couple, both in their seventies. They have a joint current account. Their home is jointly owned. They have separate ISAs and pension arrangements. They have never made LPAs because they have always managed everything together. One partner then has a serious stroke and loses the ability to make financial decisions. The other spouse may still be able to operate their joint account.

But what about the incapacitated partner’s individual savings? What about their pension? What about a property transaction? What about investments? What about decisions concerning their care? Marriage doesn’t automatically answer all of those questions.

If the incapacitated partner had made a registered Property and Financial Affairs LPA, their chosen attorney could potentially deal with their financial affairs within the scope of that authority.

If they had also made a Health and Welfare LPA, their chosen welfare attorney could potentially make relevant health and care decisions once the donor lacked capacity.

Without those documents, the family may face a much more complicated route. That can mean applying to the Court of Protection for deputyship in relation to financial decisions. And the person who ultimately takes responsibility may not simply be able to rely on being the spouse.

One partner having an LPA does not protect the other

This is another easy mistake.

Suppose a couple make a Property and Financial Affairs LPA for the wife but never make one for the husband. The wife is now protected if she loses capacity. The husband isn’t. It doesn’t work the other way round. His wife’s LPA does not give her authority over his finances.

This sounds obvious when written down, but it is surprisingly easy for couples to think of LPAs as a shared household arrangement. They aren’t.

They are personal legal documents. Each person chooses their own attorneys. Each person decides what authority to give. Each person must have the mental capacity to make their own LPA.

That is why the “four documents” calculation is so useful. It forces couples to think about each person’s position separately.

Doing all four applications at once

There is a practical advantage to dealing with all four LPAs together.

You can have the same conversations about attorneys at the same time. You can decide whether you want the same people to act for both of you. You can discuss whether you want replacement attorneys. You can organise the signing and witnessing arrangements together.

But there are still four individual LPAs. Each donor needs to make their own choices. And the signing process needs to be completed correctly for each document.

The government’s online service allows you to create the applications digitally, but the completed documents still need to be printed and signed. The registration process then requires the forms to be sent to the OPG. That means couples shouldn’t assume that “we’ve completed the forms online” means the process is finished.

It isn’t. The signing stage matters.

The signing order matters too

An LPA involves several people and different signatures.

The donor signs the LPA. The certificate provider certifies that the donor understands what they are doing and is not being pressured. The attorneys also sign.

A witness is required for the relevant signatures. The exact sequence needs to be followed carefully because an incorrectly completed LPA can be rejected or require correction.

For a couple doing four documents, that means there are plenty of opportunities for something to be missed. This is one of the practical reasons some couples prefer to deal with all four LPAs in a planned session rather than completing them piecemeal over several months.

It also gives you a chance to make sure that each person’s documents reflect their own wishes.

They don’t have to be identical. Perhaps you want your daughter and son to act for you, while your partner wants only your daughter. Perhaps you want replacement attorneys and your partner doesn’t. Perhaps you want different people to deal with financial and health decisions.

The documents should reflect the people involved, not simply be copied from one spouse’s application to the other’s.

What if you only want financial protection?

Four LPAs are not compulsory. If you and your partner only want Property and Financial Affairs protection, you could make two LPAs, one each.

The current OPG registration cost would then be £184 at the full rate. That may be entirely appropriate.

But it is worth making the choice deliberately rather than assuming the Health and Welfare LPA is unnecessary because you are married.

Health and Welfare LPAs cover a different category of decisions. They can allow attorneys to make decisions about care, living arrangements and certain medical treatment if the donor lacks capacity. Some couples want their spouse to be able to make those decisions.

Others may prefer an adult child, sibling or another trusted person. The important thing is to decide while you can.

What if you only want Health and Welfare LPAs?

The same principle applies in reverse. You can make only Health and Welfare LPAs if that is what you want. But that would not give your partner authority over your financial affairs.

If the real concern is, “Who will pay the bills and deal with the bank if I cannot?”, you need to consider the Property and Financial Affairs LPA. This is why a couple’s LPA planning should start with the decisions you want someone else to be able to make, rather than starting with the price.

The price follows from the number of LPAs you decide you actually need.

What happens if one person qualifies for a fee exemption?

Because fee relief is based on the donor’s circumstances, one spouse can qualify while the other does not.

For example, if one donor receives qualifying means-tested benefits and the other has income above the relevant threshold, their OPG fees may be different. The OPG’s current guidance says certain means-tested benefits can result in a full exemption, while income before tax below £12,000 a year can qualify for a 50% remission. Universal Credit is assessed under the remission rules.

There are also specific rules around certain compensation or personal injury awards, so it is worth checking the current LPA120 guidance rather than assuming eligibility.

The key point is simple: check the fee position for each donor separately.

What if you make a mistake?

This is another cost couples sometimes overlook. If an LPA contains a mistake, the OPG may sometimes allow a corrected application to be made at a reduced repeat application fee.

The current fee for a repeat LPA application is £46. But not every mistake can simply be fixed. And if a document needs to be remade, you may have to repeat parts of the signing process.

For a couple completing four LPAs, an avoidable mistake can therefore create both extra cost and extra administration. This is one reason checking the documents before they are submitted is valuable.

At Power of Attorney Online, our internal application review data indicates that around 85% of LPA applications we review contain at least one issue requiring attention. That is our own first-party experience, not an OPG rejection statistic, and it is one reason we build a checking stage into our service.

The practical point is more important than the number. An LPA is relatively inexpensive compared with many legal services. But getting it wrong can be frustrating because registration takes time.

What if one person loses capacity before the couple finishes everything?

This is the scenario nobody wants to think about.

A couple starts making four LPAs. They complete two. Then one person becomes seriously ill and loses the capacity required to make their remaining LPAs.

The situation has now changed. The person who has lost capacity can’t simply have their spouse complete the missing LPA on their behalf.

The donor has to have mental capacity when making an LPA. If there’s no existing appropriate authority, the family may have to look at deputyship.

That is why “we’ll do the other two later” is not always a sensible approach.

If a couple has decided that they both want comprehensive protection, completing the four documents while both people have capacity can remove an unnecessary vulnerability. There’s no guarantee that circumstances will wait for your diary.

The cost of doing nothing can be much higher

It is easy to look at £368 and think, “That’s quite a lot for paperwork.”

But the relevant comparison is not always £368 versus £0. Sometimes it’s £368 versus the cost, time and inconvenience of trying to solve the problem after capacity has been lost.

Court of Protection applications currently carry a £432 application fee, although fee help may be available and the overall cost of deputyship can be considerably higher once professional advice and ongoing administration are considered.

There’s also the practical issue of time.

An LPA can be prepared in advance and registered while the donor still has capacity. Deputyship is reactive. It begins after the problem has arisen.

That’s not an argument that everyone should buy an LPA service. It’s an argument for making the decision while the person still has the choice.

The couple’s LPA decision matrix

If you’re still unsure how many LPAs you actually need, this is a useful starting point.

What you want to protect	You	Your partner	Total LPAs
Financial affairs only	Property & Financial	Property & Financial	2
Health and welfare only	Health & Welfare	Health & Welfare	2
Comprehensive protection	Both	Both	4
You want financial protection but not welfare	Property & Financial	None	1
You want your partner protected financially but not yourself	None	Property & Financial	1

There’s nothing inherently wrong with having fewer than four.

The mistake is assuming that marriage, joint ownership or one person’s LPA somehow covers the other person. It doesn’t.

How couples can make the process easier

If you’ve decided to make four LPAs, there is no particular prize for making the process complicated. Start by having the conversation about attorneys.

Who would you each trust? Would you both choose the same person? Would you want more than one attorney? Should they act jointly or jointly and severally? Would you want replacement attorneys?

Then decide whether you want both types of LPA. Once those decisions are clear, the applications themselves become much easier to approach.

If you use the GOV.UK service, follow the instructions carefully and check the forms before submitting them. If you use an online provider, understand exactly what is included in the service price and what remains payable to the OPG.

If your circumstances are unusual, particularly where there are complicated family relationships, businesses, trusts or significant assets, consider whether professional legal advice is appropriate.

The aim is not to make the process more expensive than it needs to be. It’s to make sure the arrangement actually does what you expect it to do.

FAQs

Does a couple need four LPAs?

Not necessarily. A couple needs four LPAs if both people want both types of protection: a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA each. You can choose to make fewer documents if you do not want both types of authority.

How much do four LPAs cost in 2026?

The OPG registration fee is currently £92 per LPA. Four LPAs therefore cost £368 in OPG registration fees at the full rate.

Is the £92 fee per person or per LPA?

It is per LPA. Because each person makes their own document, a couple making four LPAs pays four registration fees.

Can a married couple make one joint LPA?

No. Each person makes their own LPA. You can appoint the same attorneys in both documents, but the LPAs remain separate legal documents.

Do joint bank accounts mean we do not need LPAs?

No. A joint account may provide access to that particular account, but it does not give one spouse comprehensive legal authority over the other spouse’s financial affairs or health and welfare decisions.

Can my spouse automatically make decisions for me if I lose capacity?

Not necessarily. Being married does not automatically give a spouse authority to make many decisions on another adult’s behalf. An LPA can provide that authority while allowing the person to choose who they trust to act.

Can I make an LPA for my spouse?

No. Your spouse has to make their own LPA while they have the required mental capacity. You cannot sign one on their behalf simply because you are married.

Can we use the GOV.UK service for free?

Yes. The government provides an online service and paper forms for making LPAs. You still have to pay the OPG registration fee unless you qualify for an exemption or remission.

How much does Power of Attorney Online charge for a couple?

Our current service price is £250 for a pair of LPAs, plus the applicable OPG registration fees. If a couple wants four LPAs, the service cost would therefore be £500, with £368 in OPG registration fees at the full rate.

Can both people qualify for an OPG fee reduction?

Potentially, yes, but each donor’s circumstances are assessed individually. A qualifying donor may receive a full exemption or a 50% remission depending on their income and circumstances.

What happens if one spouse loses capacity before making their LPA?

They can no longer make an LPA if they no longer have the necessary mental capacity. If there is no existing appropriate authority, the family may need to consider applying to the Court of Protection for deputyship.

How long does LPA registration take?

The government currently says registration takes around 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes in the application.

The real value of doing both at the same time

For couples, the attraction of making four LPAs is not really the number four. It’s the symmetry.

Both people have made their own decisions. Both have chosen who they trust. Both have considered financial affairs. Both have considered health and welfare. And both have done it while they still have the capacity to make those decisions.

The £368 OPG fee is therefore best viewed as the statutory cost of registering four separate legal documents, rather than the price of “a couple’s power of attorney”.

You can reduce that cost if either donor qualifies for an exemption or remission. You can also choose the free GOV.UK route if you are comfortable preparing the applications yourself. Or you can pay for additional help with the preparation and checking.

There is no single right answer for every couple. What matters is understanding what you are actually buying. If all you want is financial protection for both of you, two LPAs may be enough. If you want both financial and health and welfare protection, four is the usual answer. And if you are thinking, “We don’t really need them because everything is in joint names”, that is probably the point at which the conversation is most worth having.

Joint ownership can help with some practical aspects of family finances. It does not replace your ability to choose who should make decisions for you if you can no longer make them yourself.

That is what an LPA is really for.