Can I get an LPA in one day?

Yes, you can get your LPA drafted, signed, and submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian in one day with SAMEDAY LPA. The OPG's own registration period of 8 to 20 weeks runs in the background and isn't something any provider can speed up. The work that's in your control can happen today.

What you need before we start

Getting an LPA done in a day doesn't require much preparation. It does require a few things from you.

Your decisions. A Lasting Power of Attorney is a personal document. Before we can draft it, you need to know who you want to act as your attorneys — the people who will make decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity. You also need to know whether you want to make a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, a Health and Welfare LPA, or both. And whether you want your attorneys to act jointly on all decisions, independently, or jointly for some things and independently for others.

These are the decisions that shape the document. A qualified planner can help you think through them in a short consultation. But it's much faster if you've considered the basics in advance.

Your details. Full name, address, date of birth, and the same for each attorney. Nothing unusual.

Witnesses for signing. Each signature on an LPA must be witnessed by an independent adult. Your attorneys need witnesses too. If you can arrange two independent adults to be present when you sign, you can complete signing the same day.

If witnessing at home is complicated, a planner can visit you. That adds a little time to organise, but it's still achievable within a day if arranged early enough.

Step one: the consultation and draft

Order before 2pm and a qualified estate planning professional contacts you to take your instructions. This usually takes 20 to 40 minutes. The planner asks about your circumstances, explains the options clearly, and captures exactly what you want the document to say — including any specific instructions or preferences you want recorded.

From that consultation, the planner drafts your LPA documents. You receive them by email, typically within a couple of hours of your consultation. The draft is complete and ready to sign — but you should read it properly before you do.

Reading the draft is not a formality. It's your chance to check that the document reflects your wishes accurately. The names, the powers, the instructions — all of it. If anything isn't right, you tell your planner and it's corrected before you sign.

Step two: the Certificate Provider

Every LPA requires a Certificate Provider to sign a section of the form. This person confirms two things: that you understand what the LPA does and its consequences, and that nobody is pressuring you into making it. The Certificate Provider signs after the donor (that's you — the person making the LPA) but before the attorneys.

The Certificate Provider must be either someone who has known you personally for at least two years (and is not named anywhere in your LPA), or a professional with relevant skills such as a doctor, solicitor, or qualified professional Certificate Provider.

If you don't have someone who fits this role, SAMEDAY LPA can act as your Certificate Provider the same day by video call. We'll speak with you to confirm your understanding of the document and that you're making it freely. If we're satisfied — and we usually are — we sign the relevant section and the document can proceed.

There are situations where we can't act as Certificate Provider. If there are concerns about capacity, if we can't speak with you directly, or if anything suggests the circumstances aren't straightforward, we'll tell you what the right next step is. That's rare, but it does happen, and we'd rather tell you honestly than push a form through when something needs more attention.

Step three: signing

Once you're happy with the draft and the Certificate Provider section is complete, you sign. The signing process for an LPA follows a specific order: the donor signs first (witnessed), then the Certificate Provider signs (witnessed), then each attorney signs (each witnessed separately). The order matters — the OPG checks it.

If you have witnesses organised and everything is ready, the signing can happen the same afternoon you receive the draft. You don't need a solicitor present. You just need independent adult witnesses — people who aren't named in the LPA and aren't related to anyone who is.

Step four: submission to the OPG

Once the documents are signed in full, your planner submits the application to the Office of the Public Guardian. Submission can happen the same day as signing. The OPG fee in 2026 is £92 per LPA, or £184 if you're making both types.

Submission marks the handover. At that point, the work your planner can do is done. The OPG receives the application, logs it, and begins its own process.

What happens after submission

The OPG's registration period takes 8 to 20 weeks. During that time, the OPG notifies certain people named in your LPA (such as named persons) that registration is being applied for, giving them a window to raise any objections. It also checks the application for completeness and legal validity.

When registration is complete, the OPG sends back the registered documents. The LPA then has legal effect and can be used — at a bank, with medical professionals, or wherever it's needed.

Until that registered document arrives, the LPA cannot be used. A signed, unregistered LPA has no legal standing. This is why starting as soon as possible matters so much. The 8 to 20 week clock only starts when the OPG receives a complete, valid application.

Why a same-day LPA is legally valid

There is nothing legally different about an LPA that was drafted quickly compared to one that took months. The legal requirements are about the content of the document and the process of signing it — not about how many days elapsed between instruction and completion.

The forms are prescribed by law. The signing order is prescribed by law. The Certificate Provider's role is prescribed by law. SAMEDAY LPA follows every one of those requirements exactly. The speed comes from having qualified planners available and an efficient process. It does not come from skipping anything.

Once your LPA is registered, nobody looking at the document can tell how long it took to draft. What they see is a valid, registered Lasting Power of Attorney — which is exactly what it is.