Part of the Own Your Legacy: Getting Your Wills, LPAs, and Directives Sorted series
Of the three instruments covered so far in this series, the Lasting Power of Attorney is the broadest, and arguably the most important for most families to have in place.
Unlike the Advance Medical Directive, it is not limited to a narrow terminal-illness scenario. Unlike Advance Care Planning, it carries direct legal force.
An LPA is what actually gives someone the legal authority to act when a person can no longer act for themselves, for any reason.
What an LPA Does
Made under the Mental Capacity Act, a Lasting Power of Attorney lets a person, called the donor, appoint one or more trusted individuals, called donees, to make decisions on their behalf if they lose mental capacity.
Loss of capacity can arise from many causes: a stroke, an accident, dementia, or any condition that leaves someone unable to understand or weigh the information needed to make a decision. This is deliberately broader than the AMD’s narrow terminal-illness trigger.
A donee can be given authority over two broad areas: personal welfare, covering matters like where the donor lives and what care or medical treatment they receive, and property and affairs, covering bank accounts, bills, and other financial matters. A donor can grant authority over one area, both, or split authority between different donees for each area.
Who Can Be a Donee
A donee must be at least 21 years old. Common choices include a spouse, adult children, or close family members, though the right choice depends on the donor’s circumstances and the level of trust involved.
Under the standard LPA Form 1, a donor can appoint up to two donees along with one replacement donee, who steps in if the original donee dies, loses capacity, becomes bankrupt in a way that affects their authority over property matters, or is otherwise unable or unwilling to continue acting.
If a donor later wants to change their donees, the existing LPA must be revoked and a new one made.
The Application Process and Cost
An LPA is typically made online through the Office of the Public Guardian Online portal, using Singpass for identity verification and digital signing. The donor provides their own details along with the donee’s name, NRIC or FIN, mobile number, and email, and the donee then logs in separately to accept the appointment.
The LPA also requires certification by a certificate issuer, typically a doctor, psychiatrist, or accredited lawyer, who confirms the donor understands the document and is not acting under duress. Your lawyer or doctor will ask a series of questions to this end.
From 1 April 2026, the government made LPA Form 1 applications permanently free of charge for Singapore citizens, a change from the previous $70 fee. Non-citizens still pay an application fee, and a separate certificate issuer’s fee applies regardless of citizenship, typically starting from around $24. Revoking a registered LPA, provided the donor still has mental capacity, currently costs $30 and is done by submitting documents to the Office of the Public Guardian.
What Happens Without an LPA
If a person loses mental capacity without having made an LPA, no one automatically has legal authority to manage their affairs, not even a spouse or adult child.
Family members in that position must instead apply to the court for a deputyship order. This is more expensive, slower, and more intrusive process than making an LPA in advance would have been. The court-appointed deputy is also subject to ongoing supervision by the Office of the Public Guardian, whereas a donee under a voluntarily made LPA generally has more flexibility, within the terms the donor set.
This is the practical case for making an LPA well before it is needed. Mental capacity, once lost, cannot be used to sign a valid LPA. The document only works if it is made while the donor is still capable of understanding and consenting to it, which means waiting until a health scare prompts the thought is often waiting too long.
LPA, AMD, and ACP Working Together
An LPA gives a donee legal authority to act. It does not, by itself, tell the donee what the donor would have wanted in any given situation, particularly for personal welfare decisions that involve judgment calls an AMD’s narrow scope does not address. This is where Advance Care Planning, covered in the previous article in this series, becomes valuable: it gives the donee context for exercising the authority the LPA grants them.
Having all three instruments in place, and reviewed together rather than in isolation, gives both the donor and their family the clearest possible picture of who decides what, and on what basis. It is also worth being clear about what none of these three instruments can do: none of them can authorise a doctor or family member to actively end a person’s life. That legal boundary is the subject of the next article in this series.
If you are considering making an LPA, or want to review an existing one to make sure your donees and their authority still reflect your wishes, we can help you put it in place properly.
