I have LPA for my elderly mother. She wants to gift three thousand pounds to her grandson to help buy a new car. Can she do this from her savings? This will not impact her quality of life in any way as she lives with me and does not have to pay for care.
Yes, but only if it clearly fits within what the law calls her best interests.
As an attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney, you don’t have an automatic right to make gifts, even if the amount seems small or reasonable. The key question is not whether the gift is affordable in practice, but whether it is consistent with your mother’s past pattern of giving and her likely intentions when she had capacity.
In England and Wales, the Mental Capacity Act allows attorneys to make “customary” gifts, such as birthday or wedding presents, or donations to family members or charities that the donor would normally support. A one-off gift of £3,000 is not automatically excluded, but it may be viewed as significant depending on the size of the estate and her usual financial behaviour.
If she has previously made similar gifts or regularly supported her grandson financially, this strengthens the position that it can be done as part of her normal gifting pattern. If not, it may fall outside what an attorney can decide unilaterally. In that case, you would typically need approval from the Court of Protection before proceeding.
The fact that it does not affect her day-to-day living costs is relevant, but it is not the deciding factor. The legal test is still whether the gift reflects her own likely wishes, not the attorney’s view of fairness within the family.
If you want formal clarification or help assessing whether this falls within permitted gifting under LPA rules, you can refer here: https://consultantlm.uk/partner/yurydychniposluhy
