Who can manage a partner’s money when they no longer can?

What a power of attorney does

A power of attorney is a legal document. The person who makes it is the donor, and the person it lets act for them is the attorney.

Mental capacity is the ability to make a particular decision at the time it has to be made. An ordinary power of attorney stops once the donor loses it. The kinds built to carry on differ across the UK’s three legal systems.

Without one, nobody has an automatic right to run an adult’s money. That includes a husband, wife or civil partner. A court application may then be needed, which can add time and cost.

A power of attorney can only be made while the donor still has the capacity to make it. Capacity is judged one decision at a time, and someone may manage a decision on one day and not on another.

England and Wales: lasting power of attorney

• There are two types. One covers property and financial affairs, the other health and welfare.
• The donor must be 18 or over and have mental capacity when making it.
• It is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Applying to register one costs £92, unless a reduction or exemption applies.
• The Office of the Public Guardian says registration takes 8 to 10 weeks, including a statutory waiting period of 4 weeks. Mistakes in the application add time.
• A property and financial affairs power can be used as soon as it is registered, with the donor’s permission. A health and welfare power can only be used when the donor cannot decide for themselves.

An enduring power of attorney made and signed before 1 October 2007 can still be used, for property and money. GOV.UK says its attorney must register it once the donor starts to lose, or has lost, mental capacity.

GOV.UK says a lasting power of attorney is legally binding only in England and Wales.

Scotland: continuing power of attorney

• A continuing power of attorney covers financial and property affairs. A welfare power of attorney covers personal welfare, and can only be used when the donor cannot make the decision in question, or the attorney reasonably believes so.
• A continuing power can be used as soon as it is registered, and carries on if capacity is lost. The donor can choose instead that it starts only on incapacity, and say how that is to be assessed.
• A solicitor practising in Scotland, a practising advocate or a registered medical practitioner must certify the document. The certifier interviews the donor just before they sign, and confirms they understand it and have no reason to think they are under undue influence. An attorney cannot certify their own appointment.
• It is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland). Submitting a power of attorney for registration costs £99, for a continuing power, a welfare power or both in one document, from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Regulations already made set it at £102 from 1 April 2027.

Northern Ireland: enduring power of attorney

Lasting powers of attorney cannot be made in Northern Ireland today. The Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 provides for them, but legislation.gov.uk marks that part prospective: written into law, and not yet in force.

People in Northern Ireland use an enduring power of attorney instead. It does a similar job for money, with three differences.

• It covers money and property only. There is no matching document for health and care decisions.
• It can start working as soon as the attorney signs it, unless the donor adds a condition saying otherwise.
• It is registered later. When the attorney has reason to believe the donor is becoming unable to manage their affairs, the attorney applies to the High Court’s Office of Care and Protection, and the donor is told. The fee to apply is £189. Before applying, the attorney must also tell the donor’s closest relatives, in an order the law sets: a husband, wife or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then brothers and sisters, and on through the wider family. Up to three are told, or more where several share a place in that order.

Joint bank accounts

Many couples assume a joint account is enough. Guidance from the Office of the Public Guardian for England and Wales says otherwise.

• If one joint holder loses capacity, the bank can decide to restrict the account to essential spending for a time, such as living costs and medical or care bills.
• That can last until a deputy is appointed or a power of attorney is registered.
• With a registered lasting or enduring power in place, the bank will let the attorney and the other holder use the account independently.
• If the holder with capacity objects, the bank will usually let the account carry on only with both the attorney and that holder signing.

The guidance says it is not a legal document or a code of practice, and each bank’s own terms apply too. It covers England and Wales only.

In Scotland, the code of practice for the Access to Funds scheme says a bank should not freeze a joint account that either holder can sign alone. The other holder should be able to carry on using it.

Money in the unwell partner’s name

Savings, ISAs, shares and pensions in one person’s name are theirs. Once they cannot manage them, only someone with legal authority can, such as an attorney, or a deputy, guardian or controller appointed through the courts.

GOV.UK lists managing a bank account and collecting a pension among the things a property and financial affairs attorney can do.

A jointly owned home

In England and Wales, GOV.UK says a co-owner who wants to sell a home owned with someone who has lost mental capacity must apply to the Court of Protection.

The court is asked to appoint someone to take the place of the owner who has lost capacity, so the sale can go ahead. GOV.UK says that may not be needed where a registered power of attorney is in place.

In Scotland, the Public Guardian describes a couple whose jointly owned home could not be sold. One partner could no longer sign, and had made no power of attorney. The family planned to ask the sheriff court for authority to sell.

When the unwell partner is the attorney

Accounts in the well partner’s own name are still theirs to deal with directly.

A power the well partner made, naming the other partner as attorney, may stop working if that attorney can no longer act. What happens then depends on how it was written. GOV.UK sets out the choices for a lasting power.

• Replacement attorneys step in if an attorney can no longer act.
• Attorneys appointed jointly and severally can act alone, so if one cannot act, the others carry on.
• Attorneys appointed jointly must agree on every decision. If one can no longer act, the power ends, unless the document names a replacement attorney.

A couple who each name only the other, with no replacement, have no fallback if both become unwell.

Lighter arrangements

A third-party mandate lets someone use another person’s bank account. The guidance says it is not appropriate where the account holder is losing the ability to make decisions. An ordinary power of attorney stops being legal authority once the donor loses capacity.

For state benefits alone, the body that pays them can name an appointee. That is the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, or Social Security Scotland for its own payments.

The appointee makes and keeps up the person’s benefit claims, and spends the benefit in their best interests. An appointment covers that body’s benefits and nothing else.

In Scotland, the Access to Funds scheme lets a person or an organisation apply for authority to use an adult’s money for everyday costs, such as food, fuel and clothes. The application goes to the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland), not to a court.

It reaches only an account in the adult’s sole name, and does not suit more complex affairs such as investments or property. Applying costs £110 from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, and £114 from 1 April 2027.

What an attorney must do

GOV.UK sets out what an attorney in England and Wales must do.

• Follow any instructions the donor wrote into the document.
• Act in the donor’s best interests, and help them make their own decisions where possible.
• Keep the donor’s money and property separate from their own, unless they already share a bank account.
• Keep records of what they do.
• Not use the role to benefit themselves.

If there is no power of attorney

Once a partner has lost the capacity to make a power of attorney, it is too late for them to make one. A court route takes its place.

• England and Wales. A family member can apply to the Court of Protection to become a deputy, who sends the Office of the Public Guardian a report every year.
• Scotland. Someone can apply to the sheriff court for an intervention order, for a one-off decision, or a guardianship order, for authority over the longer term. A guardianship order normally lasts three years.
• Northern Ireland. Someone can apply to the High Court’s Office of Care and Protection to become a controller. A doctor’s certificate of the person’s incapacity goes with the application.

In Scotland the application needs two medical reports and a report on whether the order suits the adult. The Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) charges £110 to register either order from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, and £114 from 1 April 2027. That is separate from the court’s costs and any solicitor’s charges.

In Northern Ireland the Office of Care and Protection lists £326 to start a first application, unless the person’s clear annual income appears to be under £1,000. It lists £189 when a controller is appointed, and £407 a year where the money is managed outside court.

GOV.UK lists what a deputy pays in England and Wales.

A security bond may also be needed, and its cost depends on the value of the person’s estate.

In a first year with general supervision and no hearing, the listed fees come to £852, before any security bond, reduction or exemption. Registering a lasting power for each partner costs £184, before any reduction or exemption. Neither figure includes a solicitor’s charges.

This guide informs. It does not advise anyone whether to make a power of attorney or how. That turns on a couple’s own circumstances, health, money and where they live. MoneyHelper gives free, impartial guidance. A solicitor can advise on drafting a power of attorney, and a regulated financial adviser on finances and pensions in a person’s own case.