Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is a legal document appointing a person or a trustee to manage your financial affairs and assets. A Power of Attorney is useful if you are going overseas, are unwell or immobile and you need assistance in managing your financial affairs and assets.

A Person or Trustee appointed under a Power of Attorney can virtually “walk in your shoes” and deal with your finances and assets as you could (there are certain limitations to this). Therefore it is strongly recommended that you appoint an Attorney who you can trust implicitly.

The law places limitations on the Attorney to ensure they act at all times in the best interest of the principal (the person who appoints an Attorney). Should the Attorney act outside their authority they can be liable for any loss suffered by the principal.
 
If you appoint an Attorney you do not lose your right to manage your own affairs, your attorney acts to assist you in your affairs. However, if you lose mental capacity, then (and only if the appointment of the Attorney was made out originally as an enduring one) the Attorney can continue to manage your legal affairs. The danger here is that you did not make a valid enduring attorney.

Quick Tips

1. You should appoint an Attorney you implicitly trust and one you know will act in your best interest;

2. Provided you do not lose legal capacity, you still have control over your own affairs;

3. An Attorney has the authority to act on matters relating to your finances and assets;

4. An attorney appointed under a Power of Attorney does not have the authority to make decisions relating to your medical, dental or life style matters (Enduring Guardianship is required);

5. If your Attorney is required to deal with real estate in NSW, your Power of Attorney document is required to be registered with the Land and property Information Office; and

6. If you choose to, you may revoke the appointment of your Attorney, BUT only if you still have mental capacity.

Take the next step ----->

Contact one of our expert lawyers at Benjamin and Robinson Solicitors on (02) 9547 1733 and we can draft your Power of Attorney Document right away.

Our team has created hundreds of Power of Attorney documents. With this experience you can be sure that your Power of Attorney document will be drafted correctly and quickly by Benjamin and Robinson Solicitors.