POWER OF ATTORNEY
“A power of attorney, like a will, is a way of preparing and planning for the future.”_Find Legal Answers

There are two types of power of attorney.

• General Power of Attorney and,
• Enduring Power of Attorney

The General Power of Attorney allows you (the principal) to appoint someone trustworthy (an attorney) on your behalf to make decisions about your financial matters while you still have the capacity to make those decisions by yourself.

Usually, you can appoint a General Power of Attorney for a specific period or an event.

for an example if you are planning to go overseas for a time, the person you entrust with your General Power of Attorney can manage your financial affairs, pay your bills etc. while you are away from home.

Note: General Power of Attorney loses his/her given authority once you lose your capacity to make decisions. This is where you would be in trouble if you had not appointed an Enduring Power of Attorney.

Here’s What You Should Know About EPOA
Enduring Power of Attorney allows you (the principal) to appoint someone trustworthy to make decisions about personal (including health) matters and financial matters for you.
Personal/health matters consists of decisions about your care and welfare such as:

• With whom you live
• What support services you may need
• Health matters: medical treatments, procedures, and services to treat physical and mental conditions and end-of-life treatments aimed at keeping you alive or delaying your death.

Financial matters consist of decisions about your financial or property affairs such as:

• Expenses
• Investments
• Selling property
• Managing a business.

ABOUT EPOA: ROLE
The key role of your EPOA is to make legal and financial decisions for you in case you are incapacitated due to serios illness or injury and unable to make those decisions by yourself.
Whereas the authority of General Power of Attorney ceases to have effect if the principal is incapacitated, in the case of Enduring Power of Attorney, attorney’s power ceases when the principal passes away.
Usual duties of your EPOA include:

• Paying your bills
• Signing legal documents
• Selling or purchasing assets
• Managing your money
• Accessing bank accounts.

Choosing your EPOA
Word of Advice: Do not take choosing your EPOA lightly, you must take the matter seriously and decide carefully. If you take the matter lightly and choose an unfit person to be your EPOA, it would be a disaster.
EPOA can mismanage their role and use your money to pay their own expenses, or they can sell your assets and put the money in their pockets.
Here are few things you should consider choosing an eligible person as your EPOA,

• Capacity to make decisions on behalf of you

• Be 18 years of age or older
• That person should not be your
• paid care giver or the paid care giver for last 3 years’
• your health provider
• a service provider for a residential service where you live

You have the option to appoint multiple attorneys, if you choose to do so you must also decide how you want them to exercise their power. For example, they could exercise their powers jointly, severally, by a majority, successively or alternatively.

What happens if you do not have EPOA?
If you do not have an EPOA and then you are incapacitated, you are too late to enter a new document. Under such circumstances your loved ones will not be able to make decisions for you. This could be extremely stressful for them as they will need to go through lengthy and time-consuming procedures by applying to the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal to be appointed as your guardian. This stressful and expensive process could have been avoided entirely if you had appointed an EPOA in the first place.
Tip: When is the best time to appoint an EPOA? The best time is NOW.