Your donee is the person who will make decisions for you if you lose mental capacity. They must be at least 21 and willing to act. For property and affairs, you can appoint a licensed trust company instead of an individual. That is the whole eligibility test, which means the real work is not checking who qualifies but deciding who should.
This is the part of an LPA that people rush, and the part that determines whether the document does its job. The form takes an afternoon. The choice deserves longer.
What a donee can do
A donee’s authority extends only to what you granted, in one or both of two areas:
- Personal welfare: where you live, your daily care arrangements, and consenting to or refusing medical treatment on your behalf.
- Property and affairs: operating your bank accounts, paying your bills, dealing with your property, managing investments and insurance.
You can appoint the same person for both or split them. Splitting is common: the child who lives nearest handles welfare, the one who is better with money handles property and affairs. It works, provided each knows where their authority stops.
What a donee cannot do
The limits matter as much as the powers. A donee cannot make or change your will. They cannot give your assets away beyond the narrow gifting allowances the law permits. They cannot mix your money with their own. They cannot use their powers while you still have capacity: the LPA is dormant until capacity is lost, so a donee has no standing to intervene simply because they disagree with a decision you are making.
And everything they do must be in your best interests, using the least restrictive option available. That is a legal duty under the Mental Capacity Act 2008, not a sentiment. The Office of the Public Guardian can investigate a donee who breaches it.
How to choose
Four questions, in order of importance:
- Will they actually be available? A donee overseas cannot walk into a bank branch or sit in a hospital consultation. Sentiment says eldest child; practicality says whoever can be in the room.
- Are they competent with the thing you are giving them? Someone who cannot manage their own finances will not manage yours. Someone who freezes under pressure will not handle a medical decision at 2am.
- Will they say no to people? A donee’s hardest moments involve refusing a relative who wants money, or holding a treatment decision against family pressure.
- Do you trust them without supervision? Donees are not routinely audited. The protection against misuse is largely the quality of your choice.
Notice that “who would be offended if I did not pick them” is not on the list. Appointing to avoid a family argument now is how you buy a much larger one later.
One donee or several
Appointing more than one gives you redundancy and a check on any single person. It also introduces friction. How much depends on the structure you choose.
| Jointly | Jointly and severally | |
|---|---|---|
| How decisions are made | All donees must agree on every decision | Any donee can act alone |
| Speed | Slow: needs everyone every time | Fast |
| Protection against misuse | Strong: no one acts alone | Weaker: relies on trust |
| If one donee cannot act | The arrangement can fail entirely | The others carry on |
| Suits | Families where a check is genuinely needed | Most families, especially where speed matters |
The failure mode of “jointly” is the one people underestimate. If one of three joint donees dies or loses capacity, the joint arrangement may no longer be capable of operating, and your family can end up applying to court despite your having made an LPA precisely to avoid that. If you want a check on a single donee, consider whether the real answer is choosing a better donee rather than requiring unanimity from three.
Replacement donees
You can name someone to step in if your original donee dies, loses capacity, or is otherwise unable to act. This costs nothing to add and closes the biggest gap in the whole arrangement. If you appoint one donee and no replacement, and that donee predeceases you, the LPA may be worth nothing when your family needs it.
Name a replacement. There is almost no situation where you should not.
Appointing a trust company
For property and affairs you may appoint a licensed trust company rather than an individual. This suits donors with substantial or complex assets, no obvious family candidate, or a family where appointing any one member would cause conflict. A trust company charges for its services and brings professional record-keeping and continuity: it will not die, emigrate, or fall out with your children.
It cannot be appointed for personal welfare. Those decisions are for a person. A common structure is a trust company for property and affairs paired with a family member for welfare, which usually needs the customised wording of Form 2; see the difference between Form 1 and Form 2.
Talking to the person first
A donee has to sign to accept the appointment, so they will find out. Have the conversation properly rather than presenting a form. Cover what you would want in three or four realistic scenarios, where your documents are kept, and what you would refuse. A donee who has to guess at your wishes will guess according to their own values, which may not be yours.
Tell the rest of the family too. Half of donee disputes are not really about the donee; they are about a sibling learning after the fact and reading it as a judgment. That is a much easier conversation to have while you are well.
If you are arranging this for a parent rather than yourself, our guide to making an LPA for elderly parents covers how to raise it without it landing as a grab for control.
Reviewing your choice
A donee appointment made at 55 may make no sense at 75. Revisit it when someone emigrates, when a relationship changes, or when a donee’s own health declines. While you have capacity you can revoke the LPA and make a new one; you cannot simply swap a name on the existing document.
The change people forget is divorce. An LPA is not automatically revoked when a marriage ends. If you appointed your spouse and the marriage is over, they remain your donee, with authority over your medical care and your money, until you actively revoke it. Anyone going through a divorce in Singapore should put the LPA alongside the will and the CPF nomination on the list of things to redo. It is a short task with an outsized consequence if skipped.
If you cannot think of anyone
That is worth sitting with rather than defaulting. A trust company for property and affairs solves half of it. For welfare, consider a trusted friend, a more distant relative who is nonetheless reliable, or joint appointment of two people who each cover the other’s weaknesses.
What you should not do is skip the LPA. The alternative is not “no one decides”; it is your family applying to court for deputyship, with a judge choosing on your behalf from whoever comes forward. A donee you picked with reservations is still better than a deputy you never met the choosing of. If you are ready to proceed, our step-by-step application guide takes it from here.
