By: Ellan Dickieson, Family Service PEI
Norma fell and broke her leg. She will require surgery, and a lengthy stay in the hospital. She has bills at home, which need to be paid.
Lorne has learned that he has dementia, and therefore may not be able to look after his own affairs much longer. He will be asking his daughter to take over the responsibility of his personal finances.
Eleanor finds it very difficult to leave her home, as she no longer drives and has limited mobility. Her friend Joyce, whom she trusts, has offered to help with her finances and legal affairs.
Norma, Lorne and Eleanor are at a point in their lives where they are unable to look after their affairs, and will require the assistance of someone they trust. In their situations, they can use a power of attorney to assist with their affairs.
A Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives another person the power to look after your financial and property affairs if you cannot do this yourself or if you wish that person to do it for you.
The power that you give this person (the attorney) can be as narrow or as broad as you would like. You get to decide what they can and cannot do while you remain in control! This is a General Power of Attorney that can be specific or limited to a task or certain time period. You may want your attorney to:
- sell your car
- write some cheques
- make decisions about your property
This type of attorney ends however if your become mentally incapable of managing your own affairs. An Enduring or Continuing Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows an attorney to act on your behalf if you become mentally incapable of managing your finances or property and often takes effect when you sign it.
If you wish to give another person authority to make health and other types of personal, non-financial decisions for you, another type of document will be required and they vary depending on your province.
A Power of Attorney can be used for many different reasons.
- You can plan ahead by appointing someone to make your decisions when you want them to or incase you lose your capacity to make your decisions.
- It can give you a peace of mind that you have someone you trust taking care of your affairs if you were to become sick and unable to make decisions.
Losing capacity means you are no longer mentally competent. In the terms of Power of Attorney, this means that you are unable to understand financial or legal matters and you do not have the ability to make decisions.This could happen if you were in a comma or unconscious, or if you were to experience dementia or other cognitive impairments.
A Power of Attorney must be one or more persons who are an adult over the age of 18, mentally capable of acting on your behalf, able to understand and fulfill their duties, and able and willing to act as per your wishes, beliefs, instructions, and values.
Remember you have the right to revoke Power of Attorney at anytime, you don’t give away decision making authority you share it, and therefore you are still in charge. An attorney can abuse their power; such abuse may be improper spending/stealing money, or taking your CCP or OAS benefits.
Look out for yourself and know that this type of abuse can happen to anyone. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone if you think you are being financially abused by your attorney. It is highly unlikely that somehow this is your fault. Reach out for help if you have any suspicions that you are being financially abused.
Being an attorney is not a privilege, it is a responsibility. Duties of an attorney include:
- Act in the persons best interest
- Act honestly and in good faith
- Keep records of everything
- Exercise care, diligence and skill when acting for the person.
Please note that power of attorney varies from province to province, so please check with your province to see what the specifics are in appointing your attorney.