How well does your attorney know you?

Do you have Enduring Powers of Attorney for Property and for Personal Care and Welfare? If the answer is “Yes”, then that is excellent! If the answer is “No”, please see our post on the Importance of Enduring Powers of Attorney or give us a call to discuss what they are and how you can get them.

If you do have an Enduring Power of Attorney in place, how well does the attorney you appointed know you? Does your attorney for property know what you own? And does your attorney for your welfare know what your preferences are regarding your care?

If you cast your mind back to when you set up your Enduring Powers of Attorney, you may recall that there were a lot of important decisions that you made. However, it is likely that you didn’t put in your Enduring Power of Attorney for Personal Care and Welfare your preferences regarding where you were to reside, or for example if you would want your last moments to be at home.

Similarly, in your EPOA for Property, it is likely that you did not include a comprehensive list of what assets you own, as this is not part of what is included in those documents.

There is a practical reason why such important details are excluded from these documents. It is because your assets and preferences tend to change over time and it is difficult to amend an EPOA. Rather, you would have to make new ones and invest all over again in having it done.

You may have appointed your partner as your attorney, for example, who does know all the fine details about what your own and what you want, however it is important to remember it may not necessarily be your partner acting at the time you lose capacity or the EPOA comes into effect.

It could be your back up attorney - which could be your child, or a friend or a professional - who does not know you intimately. Alternatively, it may be that you are the person in the relationship who is responsible for the financial side of things and your partner does not know all the details, so would struggle to know what to do.

To help your future property attorney out with their role, and make sure your welfare attorney knows your wishes without both of you having to sit down for a potentially distressing conversation, there are two non-legal free documents that you can prepare and have kept with your EPOAs.

Welfare

You can set up an Advanced Care Plan or Care Directive yourself –this can be found at websites like https://www.hqsc.govt.nz/resources/resource-library/my-advance-care-plan-and-guide/.  This document sets out what treatment you want or do not want in the future if you become unwell.  

Property

You should prepare a list of your main assets and liabilities. If you have your EPOA stored with a law firm, that list should be kept at that firm with your EPOA.

View our example list

It is important to be as prepared as possible when setting up EPOAs, and to think ahead to what information the attorney may need if you lose capacity, to avoid stress for your attorney in the future.

Leading law firms committed to helping clients cost-effectively will have a range of fixed-price Initial Consultations to suit most people’s needs in quickly learning what their options are.  At Rainey Collins we have an experienced team who can answer your questions and put you on the right track.

Andie Donnelly

Lawyer
Wellington