Revoking a Lasting Power of Attorney After Divorce in the UK

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) gives someone you trust the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity — or, for a property and financial affairs LPA, even while you still have capacity. If you appointed your spouse as your attorney during your marriage, that appointment does not automatically end when you divorce.

What happens depends on the type of LPA and whether your ex-spouse was your sole attorney or one of several.

What Divorce Does (and Does Not) Revoke Automatically

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the dissolution of a marriage automatically revokes the appointment of a former spouse as attorney — but only if they were the sole attorney or the sole replacement attorney. The LPA itself is not cancelled; only their specific appointment within it is removed.

If your ex-spouse was one of several attorneys appointed to act jointly, the entire LPA is revoked by default because the joint arrangement can no longer function with a missing member. If they were one of several attorneys appointed to act jointly and severally (independently), the LPA continues to function with the remaining attorneys.

The critical problem: this automatic revocation only takes effect once the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is notified. If the OPG's register still shows your ex-spouse as a valid attorney, third parties — banks, care homes, medical professionals — may continue to accept their authority.

When You Should Revoke the Entire LPA

In most post-divorce situations, the safest course is to revoke the existing LPA entirely and create a new one. Here is why:

A partial revocation (removing your ex-spouse and leaving remaining attorneys in place) is technically possible but creates complications. The OPG must be notified, the original LPA document must be annotated, and any organisation that holds a certified copy must be given an updated version. If you also want to add a new attorney or change how attorneys are appointed (from jointly to jointly and severally, for example), a new LPA is the cleaner option.

To revoke an LPA while you still have mental capacity, you sign a deed of revocation — a written statement confirming that you revoke the LPA — and send it to the OPG along with the original LPA document. There is no fee for revoking an LPA. Notify all attorneys named in the original document that the LPA has been revoked.

Creating a New LPA

Registration of a new LPA costs £82 per document (one for property and financial affairs, one for health and welfare — £164 for both). You can apply for a 50% reduction if your income is below £12,000, or a full exemption if you receive certain means-tested benefits.

When choosing your new attorneys, consider who you would genuinely trust to manage your finances or make medical decisions if you could not. Adult children, siblings, and close friends are common choices. You can appoint a professional attorney (such as a solicitor), though they will charge for their services.

The Risk of Doing Nothing

If you do nothing, your ex-spouse may retain the practical ability to act on your behalf — particularly if certified copies of the original LPA are still held by banks or care providers. Even where the automatic revocation applies in law, the gap between legal reality and what third parties believe can cause serious problems.

Worse, if you lose mental capacity before creating a new LPA, your family will need to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order — a process that costs significantly more (£371 application fee plus ongoing supervision fees) and takes months rather than weeks.

Reviewing your LPA is one of the most overlooked steps in the post-divorce transition. The Wales Post-Divorce Checklist includes an estate protection section covering LPAs, wills, and beneficiary nominations — the three documents that most often still name an ex-spouse months after the divorce is finalised.

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