A ‘Power of Attorney’ is a legal document that authorises an appointed person (the ‘Attorney’) to make decisions on behalf of the person who appointed them (the ‘Donor’ or ‘Principal’).
The person who appoints an Attorney ‘donates’ their power to make certain decisions to their nominated Attorney. The ‘Attorney’ is chosen and appointed by the Donor when the Donor still has the mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions.
The ‘Attorney’ does not need to be a legally trained or qualified person. This person could be a close friend or relative whom you can trust. You can have more than one ‘Attorney’.
You can specify when your Attorney/s powers begin and you can also specify what powers they will have, and not have. This is often referred to as the ‘limits of your Attorney/s powers’.
You can make changes to your Power of Attorney at any time, as long as you still have the decision-making capacity to do so. You can also appoint a replacement ‘Attorney’, but you must inform your original ‘Attorney’ of these decisions.
The regulations under-pinning the various forms of ‘Power of Attorney’ are different in every State & Territory so please check with your local State jurisdictions for further details.
