What is an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPOA)?
An Enduring Power of Attorney is a formal document in which you, as principal, give another person, your attorney, the authority to make personal and/or financial decisions on your behalf.
Personal decisions relate to your care and welfare, including your health care (e.g. deciding where or with whom you live or consenting to medical treatment).
Financial decisions relate to the management of your finances (e.g. paying your bills and taxes, selling or renting your home, using your income to pay for your needs or invest your money).
If you are an attorney selling a property, the Power of Attorney document will have to be registered at the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (Titles Office).
What is an Advance Health Directive?
An Advance Health Directive is a formal way to give instructions about your future health care. It comes into effect upon when your cognitive health has deteriorated and you are unable/don’t have capacity to make your own decisions.
What's changing?
As at 30 November 2020, new changes will come into effect for Enduring Power of Attorneys (EPOA), Advance Health Directives (AHD), Assessment of Capacity and Guardianship Laws.
New forms have been introduced as well as Queensland Capacity Assessment Guidelines.
In a nutshell, changes include:
- changes to the general principles and health care principles
- clarity on applying the presumption of capacity
- clarity about capacity to make an enduring document
- changes to conflict transactions
- broader remedies for breaches
- statutory exception to ademption; and
- increases to other safe guards such as:
- protection of whistle-blowers
- the public guardian and community visitors
- other safeguards for adults with impaired capacity
- eligibility requirements for attorneys
- limit to number of joint attorneys
- appointment of administrators for missing adults; and
- recognising interstate or NZ enduring documents
- the certification of documents
Do I have to update my current documents?
These changes will only affect new documents signed on or after 30 November 2020.
If you have a current Enduring Power of Attorney and/or Advance Health Directive, it does not have to be updated to the new forms however it is a good time to review your current documents to ensure they reflect your current wishes. It is important that your attorney/immediate family and/or friends know that you have these documents in place and where they can be found.
Contact the team at Marino Lawyers today for more information and we will be happy to help you out!
