The Importance of Setting Up a Lasting Power of Attorney Early: Securing Your Future and Peace of Mind

Thinking about the future is not always comfortable. Most people would rather focus on everyday life than imagine a time when they may need help making decisions. Even so, putting the right legal arrangements in place early can make a huge difference to your life and to the people around you.

A Lasting Power of Attorney, often called an LPA, is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself. In England and Wales, an LPA lets you appoint someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity in the future. You must be 18 or over and have mental capacity when you make it. There are 2 types of LPA: one for property and financial affairs, and one for health and welfare.

Athi Law explains the basics well in its Power of Attorney service page and in its guide to Understanding Lasting Power of Attorney. If you are thinking about future planning, setting up an LPA early is not just sensible. It can help you keep control, reduce stress for your family, and avoid unnecessary legal difficulty later on.

Why early action matters

The main benefit of making an LPA early is that you stay in charge of the decision.

When you arrange it in good time, you choose who will act for you. You can decide whether they handle financial matters, health and welfare decisions, or both. You can also include preferences and instructions that reflect how you want decisions to be made. That is much better than leaving things uncertain and hoping your family can sort everything out later.

Many people assume that if they become unwell, their husband, wife, partner, or adult children will automatically be able to step in. In reality, that is not how it works. Without a registered LPA, your loved ones may not have legal authority to deal with your bank, your bills, your property, or certain care decisions. Athi Law discusses this clearly in What Happens if You Don’t Have a Lasting Power of Attorney in Place?.

The 2 types of LPA

If you are planning properly, it helps to understand that one LPA does not cover everything.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA allows your attorney to deal with matters such as paying bills, managing bank accounts, dealing with pensions, handling benefits, and making decisions about property. In some cases, it can be used while you still have capacity, if that is how you set it up.

A Health and Welfare LPA covers decisions about care, medical treatment, daily routine, and where you live. This type can only be used when you no longer have capacity to make the relevant decision yourself.

For many people, having both types in place offers the strongest protection. It means that the people you trust can help with both practical and personal issues if life changes unexpectedly.

Why waiting can create real problems

Delaying an LPA often seems harmless. You may feel healthy, busy, or simply not ready to deal with paperwork. The difficulty is that an LPA must be made while you still have capacity. If you wait until there are already concerns about memory, illness, or reduced understanding, it may be too late.

That is why early planning matters. Loss of capacity does not only affect older people. It can happen after an accident, a stroke, a serious illness, or another sudden event. Setting up an LPA early is not about expecting the worst. It is about being prepared.

There is also a practical timing issue. An LPA has to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used, and GOV.UK states that registration usually takes 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes. That includes a legal 4-week waiting period.

If you leave things until a crisis has already happened, you are likely to be too late to put the arrangement in place when it is actually needed.

The cost of planning versus the cost of delay

Some people put off making an LPA because they assume it will be expensive. In reality, the registration fee is far more manageable than the cost and stress of trying to sort things out after capacity has been lost.

The current application fee to register an LPA is £92. If you want both the health and welfare LPA and the property and financial affairs LPA, the total is £184. Fee reductions or exemptions may be available depending on financial circumstances.

By contrast, if there is no LPA in place and someone needs legal authority to act for you, the family may have to apply to the Court of Protection for deputyship. GOV.UK states that this can involve a £421 application fee, a possible £259 hearing fee, and a £100 assessment fee for new deputies, with annual supervision fees in many cases after that.

That comparison alone shows why acting early is often the simpler and more cost-effective route.

Choosing the right person matters

Making an LPA is not just about signing a form. It is about choosing the right attorney.

Your attorney should be someone reliable, organised, and capable of acting in your best interests. This could be a close relative, a trusted friend, or more than one person acting together. You may also want replacement attorneys in case your first choice cannot act later.

Athi Law has useful guidance on How to Choose the Right Person for Your Lasting Power of Attorney and The Role of a Solicitor in Drafting a Lasting Power of Attorney. Planning early gives you time to think carefully, have proper conversations, and make decisions without pressure.

It also gives your family peace of mind

An LPA does not only protect you. It can also make life easier for the people who may need to help you.

When families are dealing with illness or incapacity, emotions are already high. If there is no legal authority in place, that situation can quickly become more stressful. Delays with banks, uncertainty around care, and disagreement over who should take responsibility can all make a difficult time even harder.

By contrast, if your LPA is already in place, your wishes are clearer and the legal route is far more straightforward. Athi Law also explores the value of these conversations in The Importance of Family Communication When Setting Up a Lasting Power of Attorney and Common Misconceptions About Lasting Power of Attorney.

LPA planning should sit alongside wider future planning

A Lasting Power of Attorney is important, but it works best as part of a wider plan. It deals with decisions during your lifetime if you lose capacity. A will, on the other hand, deals with what happens to your estate after death.

That is why it makes sense to think about LPAs alongside Wills and Probate, and to take advice on how your wider arrangements fit together. If you also want to understand the legal distinction between different forms of authority, Athi Law’s article on The Difference Between Ordinary and Lasting Power of Attorney in the UK is useful as well.

An ordinary power of attorney can help in short-term situations, but it ends if you lose mental capacity, which is exactly why it is not a substitute for an LPA.

Take steps now, not later

Setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney early is one of the clearest ways to protect your future. It helps you stay in control, gives you a say in who will act for you, reduces the risk of delay and confusion, and can save your family from a more complicated legal process later on.

Most importantly, it gives you peace of mind. You know that if something unexpected happens, your affairs are more likely to be handled by someone you trust and in a way that reflects your wishes.

If you are ready to put the right protection in place, Athi Law can help you move forward with clear and practical advice. Visit their Power of Attorney, Understanding Lasting Power of Attorney, or Wills and Probate pages and speak to their team about the next steps for you.