Undue Influence

Undue influence is a doctrine of equity concerned with transactions procured by improper pressure rather than the free exercise of a person's own judgement. Where it is established, the transaction is voidable, meaning the person affected can choose to have it set aside, rather than the transaction being automatically void. The concept extends well beyond contract disputes into other formal legal instruments: it is expressly recognised as a ground for challenging the making of a lasting power of attorney (LPA).

The Court of Protection's own official application form for objecting to the registration of an LPA lists, as one of the prescribed statutory grounds of objection under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, that 'fraud or undue pressure was used to induce the donor to make the power' — official recognition that a document procured through undue pressure on the person granting it can be challenged and its registration halted while the objection is determined. This underlines the general principle across UK law that a transaction (whether a contract, a gift, or a formal instrument like an LPA) entered into as a result of undue influence is vulnerable to being unwound, protecting individuals — often vulnerable ones — from having their decisions dictated by someone else's improper pressure.