LPA Rejection Reasons — Common Mistakes That Get Your Application Sent Back

Why the OPG Sends Applications Back

Every Lasting Power of Attorney passes through a caseworker review at the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be registered. The caseworker checks that the document was properly completed, correctly signed, and legally valid. If anything is wrong, they return the application — and you lose weeks or months of processing time.

Some errors can be fixed with a correction form. Others require a completely new application, including a fresh £92 registration fee. Understanding the most common rejection reasons before you submit prevents both.

Signing Order Violations

The single most frequent error. The Mental Capacity Act requires signatures in a strict sequence:

1. Donor signs Section 9 first, witnessed by an independent adult (aged 18+)
2. Certificate provider signs Section 10 second
3. Attorneys and replacement attorneys sign their sections last, each witnessed

If anyone signs out of sequence — even by one day — the OPG will reject the application. The most common version of this mistake is having everyone gather in one room and sign simultaneously without paying attention to which section gets signed first.

The dates on each section must reflect the correct order. If the donor signs on Monday, the certificate provider cannot have signed on the previous Friday.

Invalid Certificate Providers

The certificate provider must be either a qualifying professional or someone who has known the donor personally for at least two years. They cannot be:

• Any attorney or replacement attorney named in the LPA
• A family member of the donor or any attorney
• A business partner or employee of the donor or any attorney
• Anyone connected to a care home where the donor lives

A common trap: the donor's son is an attorney, and the certificate provider is the son's wife. She may know the donor well, but the family relationship to an attorney disqualifies her.

Poorly Drafted Instructions

The LPA allows the donor to include "preferences" (non-binding guidance) and "instructions" (legally binding constraints). Instructions that are too absolute — like "my attorneys must never sell my home" — are routinely flagged by the OPG because they can prevent attorneys from acting in the donor's best interests.

If a donor needs residential care and the only way to fund it is selling the house, an instruction that prohibits the sale creates an impossible conflict. The Court of Protection may sever the instruction, but the OPG will often query it before registration, adding weeks to the process.

Instructions should be specific and realistic: "My attorneys should explore all alternative care funding options before selling my property" is workable; an absolute prohibition is not.

Witness Errors

Every signature on an LPA must be witnessed by an independent adult aged 18 or over. The witness rules create two specific traps:

• Attorneys cannot witness the donor's signature. An attorney can witness another attorney's signature, but not the donor's.
• The witness must be physically present. Video calls do not count. The witness must see the person sign and then sign the witnessing section themselves.

Missing or Incorrect Fees

The registration fee is £92 per document. If you submit two LPAs (one for property, one for health), you owe £184. Underpaying triggers an automatic return.

If you qualify for a fee exemption or remission, you must enclose form LPA120 with supporting evidence. Submitting the LPA without the form — intending to send it separately — can result in the application being processed at full fee or returned for incomplete documentation.

How to Avoid These Errors

The OPG's online drafting tool catches some of these problems during the drafting stage — it validates fields, flags common mistakes, and enforces the correct structure. But it cannot verify signing order, certificate provider eligibility, or witness presence. Those rely entirely on the people involved following the rules on signing day.

The Wales Capacity Protection Toolkit includes a pre-signing checklist that walks through every validation step, from certificate provider eligibility through witness arrangements to fee calculation.

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