When it comes to planning for the future, there’s a number of steps you can take to ensure a bit of peace of mind.
Along with helping you organise your affairs when you pass away, SP Garrett Lawyers can also help with Power of Attorney and appointing an Enduring Guardian – two very important legal processes that assist you in your decision making in times where you may not be able to make conscious choices.
In NSW Power of Attorney can come in two forms: Enduring Power of Attorney & General Power of Attorney.
As it says on the tin, so to speak, an Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone who can make financial and legal decisions on your behalf, which will continue after the point where you lose the ability to make these choices yourself.
A general power of attorney, meanwhile, is more or less the same thing – however it only applies when you have the ability to make choices yourself. (https://www.tag.nsw.gov.au/wills/make-power-attorney/what-power-attorney)
Meanwhile, an Enduring Guardian is similar to a Power of Attorney; however it relates more so to personal, lifestyle and medical treatment choices – rather than to fiscal decisions. This might relate to your particular choices in regards to your medical care: for example, whether you receive particular treatments or transfer to different medical facilities.
Who can apply for a Power of Attorney or an Enduring Guardianship? Anyone over the age of 18 who has the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the document, who makes the decisions in the document of their own free will and who can communicate clearly what those decisions are.
As you may have guessed, Power of Attorney and Guardianship are very serious legal processes and should not be entered into without specific and in-depth legal consultation. Make sure to speak to the team at SP Garrett Lawyers before you commit to any of the aforementioned legal processes – it is advisable to have a third party review the document prior to signing.
Power of attorney is really important that everyone must know about.