Can I make an LPA after losing capacity?
Written by SmartLPA · Reviewed 1 July 2026
The honest answer is no: an LPA can only be made by someone who still has the mental capacity to understand it. That single rule is why timing matters more than anything else on this page.
This guide content is currently in draft. We’re preparing it for review before launch. If you’re making an LPA now, always cross-reference with the OPG’s official guidance at gov.uk/power-of-attorney.
The short answer
To make an LPA you must be able to understand what it is, what powers it gives, and what the consequences are, at the time you sign it. Your certificate provider signs specifically to confirm this. An LPA signed by someone who lacked capacity isn't valid, however sincere everyone's intentions.
What 'capacity' actually means
Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, capacity is decision-specific and time-specific: can this person, at this time, understand the relevant information, retain it long enough, weigh it up, and communicate a decision? Nobody is 'globally' incapable; the question is always about the particular decision in front of them.
A diagnosis isn't the same as losing capacity
A diagnosis of dementia, or another condition affecting cognition, does not by itself mean someone can't make an LPA. In the early stages many people fully understand what an LPA is and genuinely want one, and the certificate provider's independent confirmation is exactly the safeguard that makes acting at that stage legitimate. What the diagnosis does change is urgency: the window is real, and it closes.
If it's too late: deputyship
Where capacity has already been lost, the route is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection. It works, but the contrast is stark: it typically takes months rather than weeks, costs considerably more than an LPA (with ongoing supervision fees), the court chooses whether to appoint your family member, and personal-welfare deputyships are only rarely granted. An LPA made in good time avoids all of it, and keeps the choice of people yours.
Ready to put it in place?
Answer guided questions, pass every OPG structural check, and download your completed LPA, from £59.