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Changing or removing an attorney

Updated 14 September 2026 Figures re-checked 1 November 2026
The short answer

While the donor still has capacity, they can end the whole power with a deed of revocation, or remove one attorney with a partial deed of revocation, sent to the Office of the Public Guardian with the original document. Adding an attorney needs a new power. Once capacity has gone, only the Court of Protection can revoke it.

A power of attorney is not a life sentence for either side. The route out depends almost entirely on one question: whether the person who made it can still make the decision to change it.

While the donor has capacity, they can end it

The person who made the power, called the donor, can revoke it at any time when they have capacity to do so (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 13, checked 1 November 2026). No reason is needed, and nobody else’s agreement is required, including the attorney’s.

The process is set by the Office of the Public Guardian. GOV.UK says you need to send it both the original lasting power of attorney and a written statement called a deed of revocation, and it gives the wording the deed should contain (GOV.UK, End your lasting power of attorney, checked 1 November 2026). A deed has to be signed and witnessed, so this is not a letter.

Tell the attorneys too, and any bank or organisation that holds a copy. An institution that has registered the power will keep acting on it until it hears otherwise.

Removing one attorney without ending the rest

A donor with more than one attorney can take a single name off rather than start again. GOV.UK says you can ask the Office of the Public Guardian to remove an attorney if your power is registered and you still have mental capacity, by sending a written statement called a partial deed of revocation (GOV.UK, Removing an attorney, checked 1 November 2026).

The original power goes with it, and the attorney being removed should be told. The remaining attorneys carry on under the same document, though how they must act together matters: attorneys appointed jointly, rather than jointly and severally, cannot always continue once one has gone.

You cannot add an attorney

An existing power cannot be amended to add a name. GOV.UK says that if you want to add another attorney you need to end your lasting power of attorney and make a new one (GOV.UK, Removing an attorney, checked 1 November 2026). There is no amendment route.

So a new attorney means a deed of revocation for the old power, a fresh application, and a new registration, which GOV.UK says takes 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes (GOV.UK, Register a lasting power of attorney, checked 1 November 2026). Do not revoke the old one until the new one is registered, or there will be weeks with no power at all.

When an appointment ends by itself

Some events end an attorney’s role without anybody doing anything. The Act lists the attorney disclaiming the appointment; the attorney’s death or bankruptcy, bankruptcy applying to property and financial affairs; the end of a marriage or civil partnership between donor and attorney; and the attorney losing capacity (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 13, checked 1 November 2026).

The divorce rule has an exception. The Act lets the document itself say that divorce or dissolution does not end that attorney’s appointment, so read the power before assuming an ex-spouse is out.

Whether the whole power survives is a separate question. It carries on where the document names a replacement attorney, or where another attorney appointed jointly and severally remains (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 13, checked 1 November 2026). Where neither applies, the power ends with that appointment.

An attorney who wants to step down

An attorney is not obliged to carry on, whatever they agreed to when the power was made. The disclaimer form, LPA005, is for anyone who no longer wants to be an attorney under a lasting power of attorney (GOV.UK, Disclaim a lasting power of attorney, checked 1 November 2026).

The Office of the Public Guardian must be told. GOV.UK lists choosing to stop acting as an attorney among the changes you must report to it (GOV.UK, Changes you need to report, checked 1 November 2026). Read the form itself for who else it asks you to notify, and tell the donor and any other attorneys in any event, because they are the people left carrying the work.

Once the donor has lost capacity

A donor who cannot make the decision cannot sign a deed of revocation. The Court of Protection can revoke a power where the donor lacks capacity and an attorney has behaved in a way that contravenes their authority or is not in the donor’s best interests (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 22, checked 1 November 2026).

The same section also covers a power made through fraud or undue pressure, which is the ground where a relative was pushed into signing.

Families rarely start there. The Office of the Public Guardian can look into concerns about misuse of the donor’s money or decisions not in their best interests, and can take the matter to the court (GOV.UK, How we deal with safeguarding concerns, checked 1 November 2026). Our page on an attorney misusing a power covers how to report it and what evidence helps.

If the power ends and the donor cannot make a new one, somebody has to apply to be a deputy instead. That is slower and supervised, and deputyship explains what it involves.

Common questions

My mother wants to take my brother off her power of attorney. How?

If the power is registered and she still has capacity, she sends the Office of the Public Guardian a written statement called a partial deed of revocation, with the original power. GOV.UK says the attorney being removed should be told. The rest of the power carries on with the remaining attorneys.

Can we add a new attorney to an existing power?

No. GOV.UK says that if you want to add another attorney you need to end your lasting power of attorney and make a new one. That means a deed of revocation for the old power, a new application, and a new registration fee, while the donor still has the capacity to make it.

What happens if an attorney dies?

Their appointment ends. Whether the power itself carries on depends on how it was set up: it continues if the document names a replacement attorney, or if another attorney appointed to act jointly and severally remains. If neither applies, the power ends and a new one or a deputyship is needed.

My father has dementia and his attorney is misusing his money. Can we remove them?

Not with a deed, because he can no longer make that decision. Report it to the Office of the Public Guardian, which can investigate and apply to the Court of Protection. The court can revoke the power where the attorney has acted outside their authority or not in his best interests.

What to read next

How much a lasting power of attorney costs: £92, £46, or nothing
The registration fee is £92 per LPA. Guarantee Credit and five other benefits make it free, income of £12,000 or less halves it, and a rejected form costs £46 to resubmit.
LP1H, section by section: the health and welfare lasting power of attorney
What each section of form LP1H asks for, the life-sustaining treatment choice that must be signed and witnessed before anything else, and why this form can never be used while you have capacity.
When a parent will not set up a power of attorney: what you can do, and what happens if they never do
Nobody can make a power of attorney for somebody else, and an adult who has capacity is entitled to refuse. What helps is understanding why they are refusing, showing them the control the document gives them, and being honest about the alternative: a Court of Protection deputyship, which costs more, is supervised, and is applied for by somebody else.
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