LPA for parents: your own, and your autistic child’s

What an LPA is

An LPA is a legal document in which one person — the donor — appoints one or more people they trust, called donees, to make decisions on their behalf if they later lose mental capacity. It covers two areas: personal welfare, and property and affairs. It is made ahead of any loss of capacity, which is the whole point of it.

That timing is also its hard limit. Because an LPA can only be made while the donor still has capacity, it is only ever available to someone who can understand and make the decision to appoint a donee. Deputyship is the court-appointed route for when that moment has passed, or was never possible.

Why every parent should make their own

This is the piece parents most often overlook, because it is not about the child at all. If you lose capacity — through illness, an accident, age — someone needs the legal standing to act for you, and to keep the arrangements for your child running. Without an LPA, your own family would have to apply to court for deputyship over you, at the worst possible time.

Making your own LPA is one of the cheapest, highest-value hours in this whole plan. From 1 April 2026, Singapore Citizens can make the standard version free of charge. It is the oxygen-mask rule: secure your own ability to act before anything else.

Can your autistic child make an LPA?

Sometimes, and it is worth finding out, because where it is possible it is far simpler than deputyship. The single question is capacity: can your child understand what an LPA is, and make the decision to appoint someone they trust? Capacity is also decision-specific and can change over time, so it is not a single yes or no about a person.

Where your child has that capacity, they can appoint you — or a sibling, or anyone they trust — as their donee, and no court application is ever needed. Where they do not, an LPA simply is not available, and deputyship is the route. Neither outcome is a verdict on your child; they are just two different doors, and which one is open depends on capacity.

What it costs

Form 1 grants a standard set of powers and suits most families; Form 2 is for customised arrangements and usually needs a lawyer to draft. One cost sits outside this table: every LPA must be certified by a qualified Certificate Issuer — a doctor, psychiatrist or lawyer — and their professional fee is separate from the application fee above. Figures are the Office of the Public Guardian’s own, as of 2026.

How to make one

1. Choose your donee, and a replacement. Someone you trust to act in your interest — and a back-up, in case your first choice cannot act when the time comes.
2. Complete the application to the Office of the Public Guardian. Form 1 covers the standard powers most families need.
3. Have it certified by a Certificate Issuer. A qualified doctor, psychiatrist or lawyer confirms you understand the LPA and are not being pressured into it.
4. Register it with the Office of the Public Guardian. An LPA takes effect only once registered — so it is done and waiting, not left half-finished.