Should I Get Both Types of LPA?

The short answer

Almost always, yes. The two LPAs cover different halves of the same life, and the situations that trigger one nearly always involve the other.

Why the halves do not work alone

Think about what actually happens when capacity goes. Take the commonest hard week a family faces: Dad has a stroke, and after hospital he needs a care home.

His daughter needs to consent to treatment (health LPA), choose the care home (health), pay the deposit from his savings (financial), sell or let the house to fund ongoing fees (financial), keep his bills running meanwhile (financial), and decide about rehabilitation as things change (health). Six necessary actions, split across two documents. With only one LPA, half of them are blocked, and it is rarely obvious in advance which half you will need first.

The cost of the second document

With our service, making the second LPA costs nothing, because making both is free. The only additional cost is the second registration fee: £92 to the OPG. Set that against what the missing document costs later (a Court of Protection application to fill the gap runs to thousands of pounds and months of waiting) and the arithmetic ends the debate. More on what the no-LPA route costs.

The objections, honestly answered

"My spouse can handle the money side already." Joint accounts help until the bank restricts them, which banks can do when one holder loses capacity. And joint access says nothing about the house, pensions, or investments in one name.

"I don't want to think about the health decisions." That is choosing to leave them to doctors and, in disputes, to a judge. The health and welfare LPA is how your own views, including on life-sustaining treatment, get legal force. Deciding once now spares your family arguing about it at a bedside.

"I'll do the second one later." Later means a second round of forms, signatures and an eight-to-ten-week registration. Doing both together is one sitting and one signing day.

One honest caveat

If money is genuinely the constraint and even £184 in registration fees is too much at once, check whether you qualify for a fee exemption or the half fee; many people on low incomes pay nothing. Failing that, make the document that matters most to your situation now and add the second when you can. One LPA is incomparably better than none.

Start both, free: fifteen minutes of questions, then an estate planner rings and checks everything before you sign.