Being an attorney: the records you should keep

A few terms first

• A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets a person choose who can make decisions for them if they cannot. There are two types: property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. This guide is about the first.
• The donor is the person who made the LPA. The attorney is the person they chose to act for them.
• The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) registers LPAs and supervises attorneys and deputies.
• A deputy is someone appointed by the Court of Protection when there is no LPA and the person can no longer decide for themselves.

LPAs and the OPG cover England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems, with different documents and rules. Older enduring powers of attorney, made under the rules that came before LPAs, may still be valid for money matters.

Your main duties

As a property and financial affairs attorney you must:

• act in the donor’s best interests and follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005
• follow any instructions in the LPA
• help the donor make their own decisions where they can
• keep the donor’s money and property separate from your own
• keep accounts and records of what you do
• not profit from the role, and keep the donor’s affairs confidential
• give the OPG information about how you are using the LPA, if asked

Keep the donor’s money separate

The donor’s money should stay in accounts in their name, not in yours. Mixing money makes it very hard to show later what belonged to whom. There are exceptions, such as a joint account a couple have shared for years. If you are unsure about a particular account, the OPG can help.

Keep accounts and receipts

GOV.UK says a financial attorney should record the donor’s assets, their income and how their money is spent. In practice, a good set of accounts covers:

• a list of the donor’s accounts, investments and property, with balances at the start
• income coming in, such as pensions, benefits and interest
• money going out, grouped into categories such as bills, care fees and personal spending
• any gifts made from the donor’s money
• receipts for larger purchases, and bank statements

Your own expenses

You can be repaid from the donor’s money for costs of things you must do as attorney, such as travel to deal with their affairs, stationery, postage, phone calls, or paying a professional to complete their tax return. Keep receipts and invoice the donor for them. A family member or friend cannot charge for their time unless the LPA says so, and ordinary family visits are not an expense.

Record significant decisions and your reasons

Small, everyday decisions do not need writing down. Important ones do, such as selling the donor’s home, moving them into a care home or changing their investments. A good record says:

• what was decided, and when
• the options you considered
• what the donor wanted, or would have wanted
• who you asked for advice or views, and any disagreements
• why this option was in the donor’s best interests

What “best interests” means

When the donor cannot make a decision, the Mental Capacity Act sets out what you must do. That includes involving them as fully as possible, considering their past and present wishes, feelings, beliefs and values, asking the views of family and carers, and choosing the option that restricts their rights and freedom least. You must not decide based only on their age, appearance or condition. A best-interests decision is not what you would choose, or what is cheapest. It is what is right for them.

Capacity is about one decision at one time. Someone may be able to decide some things but not others, or on some days but not others. An unwise decision does not by itself mean a person lacks capacity.

Gifts by attorneys are very limited

Inheritance Tax exemptions, such as the £3,000 annual exemption (2026/27), do not give an attorney permission to make gifts. Attorney gifts follow their own, much narrower rules.

Under the Mental Capacity Act, an attorney can only make a gift from the donor’s money if all three of these apply:

1. it is for a customary occasion, such as a birthday, a wedding or civil partnership, a birth, or a religious festival like Christmas, Eid, Diwali or Hanukkah
2. it goes to someone related to or connected with the donor, or to a charity the donor supported or might have supported
3. its value is not unreasonable, given the donor’s circumstances and especially the size of their estate

The gift must also be in the donor’s best interests and affordable, and the LPA itself may restrict gifts further. The OPG’s guidance on giving gifts was updated on 25 February 2026. It does not give cash limits for what is “reasonable”. It describes some narrow exceptions for small gifts, which can only apply where the estate is worth more than £325,000, and even then it weighs things like life expectancy and the cost of future care.

Anything beyond this, including gifts to save tax, gifts of property, loans, or gifts to yourself where there is a conflict of interest, needs the Court of Protection’s approval first. The OPG cannot approve a gift. An attorney may have to repay a gift that was not allowed. If you are unsure, you may want to ask a solicitor before acting. Gifts made around the time care is needed can also raise questions with the council, as our guide to deprivation of assets explains.

What happens if the OPG asks for accounts

Attorneys under an LPA do not usually send the OPG regular reports. (Deputies are different: they are supervised by the OPG and normally report each year.) But if someone raises a concern, the OPG can investigate. It can ask you for information about how you have used the LPA, arrange visits with you and the donor, and contact people such as family members, banks and care workers.

If the OPG finds that an attorney has not acted in the donor’s best interests or has misused their money, it can apply to the Court of Protection, which can stop the attorney acting. An attorney can also be ordered to repay money. Clear records made at the time are the simplest way to show that you acted properly, and they help prevent family disagreements in the first place.

How Seventide helps

Seventide keeps the attorney’s LPA or deputyship details on the donor’s profile, records transactions with attorney attribution, and keeps attorney expenses separately with receipts. Its decision log has best-interests templates for common decisions, and joint attorneys can each sign a record. When an attorney records a gift, Seventide asks which basis applies and stores the answer, and an OPG-ready report brings the accounts and decisions for any date range together in one PDF.

This guide explains published guidance in general terms. It is not legal or financial advice. Your duties depend on the LPA itself and on the donor’s circumstances. If you are unsure whether something is allowed, you may want to ask a solicitor, contact the OPG, or apply to the Court of Protection.

Official sources

• GOV.UK: Manage a lasting power of attorney
• GOV.UK: Attorney records and duties
• OPG: How to be a property and finances attorney (LP14)
• OPG: Giving gifts
• legislation.gov.uk: Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 4 (best interests)
• GOV.UK: Office of the Public Guardian

Last checked: October 2026, figures for the 2026/27 tax year.