Your statutory rights are not affected.
You normally have 14 days to cancel a distance or off-premises service contract. Our normal process is to start the agreed work once instructions and the agreed payment have been received, with your express early-start request and separate full-performance acknowledgement. Starting work alone does not remove cancellation rights. On full performance, the cooling-off right ends where the legal requirements are met; remedies for faulty services remain available. Read the Cancellation Information for the notice and optional model form. If you have an agreed quotation from us, complete the terms acceptance step. Questions: contact@clearwillwriting.co.uk.
For an agreed instruction, separately complete the life-sustaining-treatment instruction step. Nothing is pre-selected, and an uncertain donor is directed to human review rather than automatic continuation. This is not medical advice or part of your terms-acceptance record.
1. What is a Health & Welfare LPA?
A Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows a person, called the donor, to appoint one or more attorneys to make certain health and welfare decisions if the donor later lacks capacity to make the particular decision themselves.
Depending on the LPA's wording and applicable law, decisions may concern:
- medical treatment;
- day-to-day care;
- where the donor lives;
- care-home arrangements;
- diet and clothing;
- personal care;
- social activities and contact with others;
- consent to or refusal of certain treatment; and
- life-sustaining treatment, where the donor has expressly given attorneys that authority.
2. Scope of the service
Depending on the agreed instruction, our service may include:
- discussing the donor's intended arrangements;
- explaining the role of Health & Welfare attorneys and replacement attorneys;
- discussing how multiple attorneys should act;
- discussing preferences and instructions;
- discussing the life-sustaining-treatment choice;
- preparing the LPA documentation;
- providing a draft for review;
- making reasonable amendments to reflect the donor's instructions;
- preparing and supplying final documentation;
- assisting with OPG registration where agreed; and
- providing signing and execution guidance.
The precise scope and price are confirmed in writing before work begins, including whether registration assistance is included and its extent and completion point. Not every health, welfare or capacity issue is part of this standard service.
The General Terms & Conditions apply. These terms add provisions specific to preparation and registration assistance for a Health & Welfare LPA rather than repeating the General Terms.
3. Who is the client?
The donor is normally the client and must provide their own instructions freely, with the required capacity to make the LPA.
Family members, prospective attorneys and carers may assist with practical arrangements, but do not replace the donor as decision-maker while the donor has capacity. If someone else makes the initial enquiry, we may need to communicate privately and directly with the donor before accepting the instruction.
4. Capacity to make the LPA
We may ask questions directly, speak to the donor alone, ask them to explain their choices, request further information, pause work, recommend medical assessment or independent legal advice, or decline or stop acting.
This may be necessary where there are concerns about understanding, memory, weighing relevant information, communicating a decision, coercion, undue influence, pressure, abuse or authenticity of instructions.
If capacity is uncertain, appropriate medical or specialist evidence may be needed before work continues. Completing an online instruction or accepting terms is not a capacity assessment.
5. Free and independent instructions
Instructions must be given freely. We may refuse or stop acting where there are concerns about coercion, undue influence, family pressure, abuse, fraud, conflicting instructions, financial or other exploitation or suspicious circumstances.
The donor may be asked to confirm instructions without attorneys or relatives present. Another person's assistance does not override the donor's independent choices.
6. Attorneys
The donor chooses their attorneys. We may explain the role but do not select attorneys, guarantee suitability, supervise them, monitor future decisions or accept responsibility for later misconduct where no negligence by us is involved.
Consider trustworthiness, willingness, understanding of the donor's wishes, location, relationships with the donor and other attorneys, ability to deal with difficult health or welfare decisions, and possible conflicts of interest.
Clear Will Writing does not act as attorney under this standard service. Drafting an appointment is not our acceptance of that role.
7. Replacement attorneys
The donor may appoint replacement attorneys where appropriate. They may step in if an original attorney can no longer act, depending on the original appointment structure, the LPA's wording and applicable law.
Not every replacement arrangement works in every circumstance. Raise questions about its practical effect before finalisation.
8. How multiple attorneys act
Where more than one attorney is appointed, the donor must specify how they act. Arrangements may include:
- jointly, generally meaning relevant decisions must be made together;
- jointly and severally, generally meaning attorneys may act together or independently; or
- different arrangements for different decisions, where legally appropriate.
If an arrangement is unusually restrictive or may make the LPA difficult to use, we may recommend alternative wording or specialist advice. Complex structures require careful consideration rather than an assumption that every structure works alike.
9. When attorneys may make decisions
Capacity is decision-specific and may change over time. An attorney cannot override a donor who has capacity merely because they disagree with the donor's decision.
A single finding of incapacity does not necessarily determine every future decision. Registration alone does not give attorneys control.
10. Best interests
When making decisions for a donor who lacks relevant capacity, attorneys must act in accordance with applicable law, including the principles of the Mental Capacity Act, and consider the donor's best interests.
Our preparation service does not include future supervision or ongoing legal advice about best-interests decisions. Attorneys may need independent legal or medical advice where difficult decisions arise.
11. Preferences
Preferences express the donor's wishes and values which attorneys should consider. They may concern living arrangements, routines, diet, religious or cultural wishes, personal care, social contact and care preferences.
Preferences should be drafted carefully and should not conflict with binding instructions or applicable law. Tell us what matters to you without assuming that every preference guarantees a particular outcome.
12. Instructions
Instructions are intended to place binding limits or requirements on attorneys, subject to law.
Poor drafting may be impractical, conflict with medical realities or law, make the LPA difficult to use or create uncertainty. We may recommend different wording or decline an instruction that appears unlawful, contradictory, unsafe or incapable of practical operation.
13. Life-sustaining treatment
The LPA must reflect the donor's actual decision. Life-sustaining treatment means treatment needed to sustain life; whether a particular treatment is life-sustaining can depend on the circumstances. It is not limited to resuscitation.
Understand the significance of the choice and ask questions before instructing us. Our instruction process provides a dedicated, unselected choice rather than hiding this decision in a free-text box. If the donor does not understand it, the matter requires human review rather than automatic continuation.
Medical professionals remain responsible for clinical decisions and applicable legal duties. An attorney cannot demand clinically inappropriate or unlawful treatment.
14. Medical treatment
An LPA may give attorneys authority concerning medical treatment where the donor lacks relevant capacity, subject to the LPA and law.
It does not make attorneys doctors, allow them to dictate clinically unavailable treatment, remove clinicians' professional obligations, allow unlawful treatment or permit decisions outside the granted authority.
Complex disputes may require specialist legal advice.
15. Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment
An existing Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment may interact with a Health & Welfare LPA. Tell us about any advance decision, advance directive, living will, written treatment refusal or other document expressing medical wishes.
The legal interaction may depend on timing, wording, validity, scope and whether the attorney has life-sustaining-treatment authority. Where there is uncertainty or conflict, specialist legal or medical advice may be recommended.
Do not assume that an LPA automatically cancels every earlier advance decision.
16. DNACPR / resuscitation decisions
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and DNACPR (Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) records involve clinical and legal considerations.
A Health & Welfare LPA does not automatically allow an attorney to dictate a particular clinical outcome. Discuss specific resuscitation wishes appropriately with relevant healthcare professionals.
We do not provide medical advice or decide the appropriate clinical outcome.
17. Care and accommodation
Attorneys may potentially decide where the donor lives, care arrangements, residential care, support services and personal care where the donor lacks relevant capacity and the matter falls within their authority.
They are not guaranteed a particular placement, care provider or publicly funded service. Funding, availability, safeguarding and public-law considerations may apply.
18. Contact with other people
Attorneys may sometimes be involved in decisions about the donor's contact with others. This may raise safeguarding, human-rights, family-dispute or Court of Protection issues.
An LPA does not give unlimited power to prevent the donor seeing particular people. Specialist advice may be needed where disputes arise.
19. Deprivation of liberty and restrictions
An LPA does not give attorneys unrestricted authority to impose confinement or restrictions on the donor.
Where care arrangements amount to, or may involve, deprivation of liberty or significant restrictions, separate legal frameworks may apply.
The standard service does not include advice or representation concerning deprivation of liberty, Court of Protection authorisation or disputes over restrictive care. Specialist advice may be required.
20. Safeguarding
Concerns about abuse, neglect, coercion, exploitation, improper restriction or attorney misconduct may involve safeguarding authorities, the OPG, healthcare professionals or the Court of Protection.
The standard service does not include investigating or managing future safeguarding disputes. Preparing an LPA is not a promise to monitor future care or attorney conduct.
21. Certificate provider
The certificate provider has an important, distinct role concerning the donor's understanding and freedom from undue pressure, in accordance with the legal requirements.
Certificate-provider services are not included unless expressly agreed in writing. Otherwise, the donor must arrange an appropriate certificate provider who satisfies the legal requirements. Do not assume every member of staff can act in that role.
22. People to be notified
Where applicable, the donor may choose people to be notified about the registration application. We may explain the relevant procedure as part of the agreed service.
Notification is not presented as mandatory where it is not legally required. Any agreed notification assistance must be identified in the scope.
23. Signing and execution
This may involve the donor, witnesses, certificate provider, attorneys, replacement attorneys and other required confirmations. We provide signing guidance.
Incorrect completion may delay or prevent registration. Contact us before signing or submission if there is any doubt about execution. Preparing or approving a draft is not a substitute for proper execution.
24. Registration with the Office of the Public Guardian
Where registration assistance is included, we assist to the agreed extent. Registration is ultimately controlled by the OPG.
We cannot guarantee registration, registration time, absence of queries or requisitions, or acceptance of defective information supplied by others. Completion of our assistance does not establish that registration has succeeded.
25. Office of the Public Guardian fee
The OPG may charge a registration fee. This is a third-party government fee, separate from our professional fee unless expressly included in the quoted price.
Government fees may change. We may provide general information about possible exemptions or remissions but cannot guarantee eligibility.
26. OPG queries or rejections
The OPG may request information or corrections, raise a requisition, reject an application or require resubmission.
Issues caused by our errors will be dealt with consistently with our duty to exercise reasonable care and skill and applicable consumer rights.
Additional work may be needed because of incorrect information supplied by the donor, incorrectly completed signatures, failure to follow execution guidance, changed circumstances or other participants' acts or omissions.
Any additional charge must be agreed fairly before chargeable work is undertaken. This does not transfer responsibility for our own errors to the donor or remove statutory remedies.
27. Attorneys do not act before capacity is lost
Unlike a Property & Financial Affairs LPA, a Health & Welfare LPA does not normally authorise attorneys to make health and welfare decisions for a donor who still has capacity for the particular decision themselves.
Attorneys cannot act simply because the LPA has been registered. Both registration and the relevant legal conditions for the particular decision matter.
28. Registration does not remove donor autonomy
Registration does not transfer control of the donor's health and welfare decisions to attorneys while the donor can make those decisions themselves.
The donor remains the decision-maker while they have the relevant capacity. Attorneys cannot override a decision merely because they would choose differently.
29. Medical and clinical advice
We do not provide:
- medical or clinical advice;
- treatment recommendations;
- capacity diagnoses; or
- predictions about future healthcare needs.
The donor should obtain appropriate medical advice where required.
30. Court of Protection
The standard service does not include:
- Court of Protection applications;
- welfare proceedings;
- capacity litigation;
- disputes between attorneys;
- disputes with healthcare bodies;
- challenges to medical treatment decisions; or
- removal of attorneys.
Specialist legal advice may be required.
31. Revocation
A donor with the required capacity may be able to revoke an LPA. Future revocation work is not automatically included in the original preparation service.
A separate instruction may be needed to revoke or replace it. Do not assume that preparing a new document or making an informal statement automatically completes a legally effective revocation.
32. Death of the donor
The LPA ends when the donor dies. Health & Welfare attorneys then have no continuing authority under it.
The LPA does not govern estate administration or probate, and those services are not included.
33. Death or inability of an attorney
An attorney's death, loss of capacity or other inability to act may affect the LPA, depending on the appointment structure, replacement attorneys, its wording and applicable law.
The donor should consider review if an attorney can no longer act. We do not monitor future availability or guarantee continued operation in every structure.
34. Existing LPAs
Tell us about any existing Health & Welfare LPA, Property & Financial Affairs LPA, Enduring Power of Attorney or other relevant authority arrangements.
A new LPA may interact with earlier arrangements. Further advice may be needed where there is uncertainty; do not assume earlier arrangements are automatically revoked or resolved.
35. Existing advance care documents
Disclose relevant advance decisions, advance statements, treatment plans, written care preferences or other formal documents concerning healthcare wishes through the appropriate instruction process.
We do not automatically review the clinical appropriateness or legal validity of every separate document. A legal review is included only if specifically agreed and within our competence; medical or clinical review requires an appropriate professional.
Do not supply unnecessary diagnoses, treatment details or copies of these documents merely to accept terms.
36. Foreign use
An England and Wales Health & Welfare LPA may not automatically be recognised or operate in another jurisdiction.
If the donor lives abroad, spends substantial periods abroad or expects healthcare decisions to be needed abroad, specialist advice concerning that jurisdiction may be needed.
We do not advise on foreign law within the standard service.
37. Draft review
The donor must carefully review the draft, including:
- attorney names;
- replacement attorney details;
- how attorneys are appointed to act;
- preferences and instructions;
- the life-sustaining-treatment choice;
- notification details; and
- personal information.
Raise errors, changes or uncertainties before finalisation.
38. Client approval
Before finalisation, the donor will normally be asked to confirm that the LPA reflects their instructions.
Approval does not waive statutory rights or remove our duty to exercise reasonable care and skill. It does not make us responsible for incorrectly supplied information where no failure by us is involved, nor transfer responsibility for our own errors to the donor.
39. Storage and access
Custody and any agreed return of LPA documents will be confirmed in writing as part of your agreed arrangements.
Unless separate written storage arrangements are agreed, the client remains responsible for safely keeping relevant original documentation and access details.
We may retain copies and service records in accordance with the Privacy Policy. Permanent document storage is not automatically included or promised under the standard service.
40. Cancellation
The General Terms & Conditions and Cancellation Information apply to distance and off-premises contracts, immediate commencement, cancellation during the statutory period, proportionate charges and loss of the statutory cooling-off right after full performance.
Our normal process is to begin agreed work once instructions and agreed payment have been received and the engagement has been confirmed. Before starting during the applicable cancellation period, we obtain your separate express early-start request and advance full-performance acknowledgement. Neither is pre-ticked.
Starting work alone does not end cancellation rights or automatically make payments non-refundable. If you request an early start and cancel before full performance, any charge must be lawful, reasonable and proportionate to the services actually supplied compared with the agreed service as a whole. Refunds are dealt with under the General Terms and applicable law.
For the agreed Health & Welfare LPA service, full performance normally occurs when:
- relevant instructions have been obtained and considered;
- the agreed Health & Welfare LPA has been prepared;
- the final LPA documentation has been supplied;
- signing guidance has been provided;
- any agreed registration assistance has been completed to the agreed extent; and
- all other expressly agreed work has been completed.
Preparation-only work does not include registration assistance. Where assistance is included, the written scope identifies submission to the Office of the Public Guardian or completion of specified administrative assistance as its completion point. Completion of the standard service is not a guarantee of successful OPG registration or a registration date.
Supplying a draft alone is not full performance. Supplying final documents alone does not complete any outstanding signing support or registration assistance that forms part of the agreed scope.
Where the required express request and advance acknowledgement have been given and all applicable legal requirements are met, the statutory cooling-off right ends on full performance. You cannot then cancel the completed service under that right merely because you change your mind.
This does not affect remedies for faulty services, failure to exercise reasonable care and skill, non-conformity with the agreed contract or other applicable statutory rights.
41. Completion
For preparation-only work, completion normally requires final LPA documentation to have been prepared and supplied, signing instructions provided and all other agreed preparation work completed.
For preparation plus registration assistance, completion normally requires the LPA to have been prepared and supplied, signing assistance provided to the agreed extent, registration-related administrative assistance completed to the agreed extent, and all other agreed work completed.
The written scope identifies submission to the OPG or completion of specified administrative assistance as the assistance completion point. Where submission is agreed, preparing an application alone does not complete that task. All other specified tasks must also be completed.
Successful registration is not a completion condition of this standard service. No particular OPG registration date is guaranteed. Any different commercial commitment would require express separate agreement; do not assume it is included.
Merely labelling work complete does not override section 40 or the General Terms. Proper execution and registration remain necessary, and attorneys can only act when the donor lacks capacity for the relevant decision.
42. Relationship with other terms
The LPA Preparation & Registration Service Terms also apply to the agreed preparation, execution support and registration assistance. Where an inconsistency specifically concerns preparation or registration mechanics, those shared terms take precedence; these substantive terms continue to govern attorney authority.
These Health & Welfare LPA Service Terms must be read together with the General Terms & Conditions.
They add provisions specific to preparation and registration assistance for a Health & Welfare LPA. If there is an inconsistency relating specifically to this service, these terms take precedence.
Any general LPA Service Terms introduced and incorporated into your agreement later will be identified and linked with their applicable version, rather than assumed to apply without notice.
The General Terms cover payment, consumer rights, complaints, liability and governing law. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.