Who Can Witness My Lasting Powers Of Attorney?

Solicitors are often asked questions by clients on complicated legal issues which can take hours to research and hundreds of words to answer. However, often we are also asked very simple questions about the documents we commonly help clients to complete.

One of the most common questions clients ask when they are sent Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) documents that have been drafted by their solicitor is:

What is a LPA?

Most people probably have a basic understanding of what LPAs are. Put simply, they are a legally binding document that allows a person (the donor) to appoint one or more other people (the attorneys) to make decisions on their behalf.

There are two kinds of LPA:

Who signs a LPA?

The LPA documents require signatures from not only the donor but also the attorneys. These signatures must be witnessed by one other person and the witness must be present, not watching the donor sign online or on a video call.

Someone called the Certificate Provider also signs the LPA, but their signature does not need to be witnessed.

Who can be a witness for my LPA?

Well, almost anyone can for a witness for a LPA.

If you are the donor then your witness must be someone aged over 18 who is not named as an attorney or replacement attorney elsewhere in the document.

Each attorney’s signature must also be witnessed in the same way but the donor is not allowed to be a witness. However, someone else who is being named as an attorney is allowed to witness the signature.

In theory, this is very simple and it means that, for example, family members who are not being named as attorneys can witness the donor’s signature.

However, for absolute transparency – for example in situations where wider family members might have concerns about someone being named as an attorney – most solicitors would recommend that witnesses are completely independent and not related to either the donor or the attorneys.

People like friends, neighbours, or work colleagues are ideal.