The question arrives late by definition. A power of attorney is made while a person can still choose, and by the time a family asks how to get one for a parent with dementia, the honest answer is often that they cannot. What exists instead is a deputyship, and it is worth knowing what that involves before the diagnosis rather than after.
Why it is too late, and when it is not
An LPA can only be made by someone with mental capacity at the time they make it, which the Office of the Public Guardian defines as the ability to make and understand a specific decision when it needs to be made (GOV.UK, LP12 guide, checked 1 November 2026). A diagnosis is not the test.
A person with early dementia may well have the capacity to appoint an attorney, and the certificate provider on the form is there to confirm it.
Once that capacity has gone, nobody can sign an LPA on the person’s behalf. GOV.UK’s guide says you can apply to become someone’s deputy if they “lack mental capacity”, meaning they cannot make a decision for themselves at the time it needs to be made, and gives dementia, serious brain injury and severe learning disability as examples (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Overview, checked 1 November 2026).
If there is any doubt which side of that line someone is on, the LPA route is worth trying first, because it is cheaper, faster and under the person’s own control. Our which form do I need tool asks that question first for exactly this reason.
The two kinds of deputy
There are two types, matching the two types of LPA. A property and financial affairs deputy pays bills, manages accounts and organises pensions. A personal welfare deputy makes decisions about medical treatment and how someone is looked after (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Overview, checked 1 November 2026). You can apply for one or both.
The court is far readier to appoint the first than the second. GOV.UK says it will usually only appoint a personal welfare deputy where there is doubt that decisions will be made in the person’s best interests, for instance because the family disagree about care, or where someone needs to make decisions about a specific issue over time, such as where the person will live.
Who can apply
Anyone aged 18 or over, and there is no need to be a professional. GOV.UK says deputies are usually close relatives or friends, and that a property and affairs deputy needs the skills to make financial decisions for someone else (GOV.UK, Deputies, checked 1 November 2026).
The court can appoint two or more deputies, and you tell it whether they will act jointly, meaning all must agree, or jointly and severally, meaning any one can act.
Where nobody suitable is available, the court can appoint a panel deputy from a list of approved law firms and charities. Solicitors, accountants and local authorities also act as paid deputies.
What the application involves
The steps GOV.UK sets out for a property and affairs deputy are these. You visit the person and tell them who is applying, that their ability to make decisions is being questioned, what a deputy would mean for them, and where to get advice, giving them the notification form COP14PADep and the acknowledgment form COP5.
You tell at least three people connected to them, such as relatives, a social worker or a doctor, who get 14 days to respond or object. Then you complete the remaining forms and submit them online or by post (GOV.UK, Deputies, checked 1 November 2026).
If you cannot find three people to tell, you send a witness statement explaining why. GOV.UK does not publish how long the court takes to decide, so neither do we; the process is built around notice periods and a possible hearing, and it is not quick.
What it costs
The application fee is £432, paid twice if you apply to be both types of deputy, and £266 more if the court decides a hearing is needed (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Fees, checked 1 November 2026). Compare that with £92 to register an LPA, on our cost page, and the argument for acting early makes itself.
A property and affairs deputy may also have to set up a security bond, an insurance policy that protects the person’s finances. The amount depends on the value of the estate and how much of it the deputy controls, and it can be paid from the person’s own money. The court can waive it where the estate is small.
The fees continue after appointment. A new deputy pays a £100 assessment fee. Then every year there is a supervision fee: £320 for general supervision, or £35 for minimal supervision. Minimal supervision applies to some property and affairs deputies managing less than £21,000 (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Fees, checked 1 November 2026). GOV.UK says refunds and help with fees are available in some situations.
What a deputy may and may not do
The court order says what you can and cannot do, and GOV.UK’s general rules apply on top. A deputy must act in the person’s best interests, consider what they have done in the past, apply a high standard of care, and help the person understand each decision (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Responsibilities, checked 1 November 2026).
Every decision goes in an annual report to the Office of the Public Guardian.
The prohibitions are specific. A deputy must not restrain the person unless it is to stop them coming to harm, must not stop life-sustaining treatment, must not take advantage of the situation or profit from a decision, must not make or change the person’s will, must not make gifts unless the court order allows it, and must not hold the person’s money or property in their own name. A property and affairs deputy must keep their own money separate and keep records. Deliberate mistreatment or neglect can mean a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
Some things need a separate court order even after appointment: selling a jointly owned property, or any one-off decision the order does not cover (GOV.UK, make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: When you're appointed, checked 1 November 2026).
After the order arrives
You get the court order as soon as you are appointed for personal welfare, or once the security bond is in place for property and affairs. Official copies go to banks and building societies as proof, and extra copies cost £8 each from the Court of Protection.
A bank will want the original order or an official copy, proof of your identity and address, and proof of the person’s name and address if it differs from the account (GOV.UK, make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: When you're appointed, checked 1 November 2026). Mistakes in the order are corrected on form COP9 within 21 days, free.
If the only money involved is benefits
A deputyship is not the only route for someone whose affairs amount to a State Pension and a benefit or two. The DWP has its own, much lighter arrangement, the appointee, which lets a relative claim and manage benefits for someone who cannot manage their own. It covers benefits only and nothing else.
Our appointee page explains when it is enough and when it is not.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Deputyship is an England and Wales process. GOV.UK says you cannot apply to be a deputy in Scotland, where the equivalent is a guardianship, or in Northern Ireland, where you apply to become a controller (GOV.UK, Deputies: make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: Overview, checked 1 November 2026).
If the problem is not that nobody holds the power but that the person holding it is misusing it, our misuse page covers the Office of the Public Guardian’s concern route and the court’s power to revoke. A deputy or attorney who needs to sell the person’s home should read our selling the donor’s assets page first.