When planning for the future, most people are familiar with the benefits of preparing a Will, however, it is also important to consider the benefits of preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney.

Preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney allows you to appoint another person, refer to as an attorney, to make your decisions for you if you are unable to make decisions for yourself.

In Queensland, you can nominate an attorney for:

• Personal (including health) matters – for example decisions about medical care, accommodation, and daily needs; and

• Financial matters – for example paying bills, settling property, and managing finances.

Who should I appoint as my attorney?

Choosing a person to act as your attorney is an important decision. Once your attorney begins acting as your attorney, they will be making decisions for you that you would naturally make for yourself.

Your attorney should be a person you trust to act on your behalf in your best interest.

For someone to be eligible to act as your attorney, they need to be over the age of 18 years and not be your paid carer.

The benefits of an Enduring Power of Attorney

There are a number of benefits to preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney:

1. Preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney provides peace of mind that decisions will continue being made for you even upon loss of capacity or serious illness or accident.

2. If you have a valid Enduring Power of Attorney, in the event you are incapacitated, your attorneys will be able to act without much delay. In contrast, without an Enduring Power of Attorney, your attorneys may not be able to make decisions that require urgent attention.

3. Allows you to control who will make your decisions in the event you are incapacitated or suffer serious illness. Without an Enduring Power of Attorney, your loved ones will need to seek financial administration or guardianship from the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). This process is costly and will impact your loved one’s ability to make decisions, particularly urgent decisions.

4. An Enduring Power of Nominating attorneys aims to reduce conflict between loved ones by providing certainty as to who is your attorney and what decisions they can make.

5. If you have minor children, the legal guardian for your children (during your period of incapacity) will be able to liaise with your attorney to financial support your child or children.

6. The appointment of an attorney aims to reduce disputes between your loved ones as to who is responsible for making your decisions. Without providing your loved one’s certainty, it may mean that your loves ones require intervention from QCAT.

If you would like to discuss preparing an Enduring Power of Attorney, please don’t hesitate to contact us.