Powers of attorney in Queensland are covered by the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 and the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000, which you can view on the Queensland Legislation website:Įvery Australian state and territory has different rules governing powers of attorney. You do not need to make new ones unless you want to. If you made an enduring power of attorney or Advanced Health Directive before the legislation changed on 30 November 2020, it is still valid. See the Queensland Government website for more information about the changes and how they may affect you. In November 2020 Queensland introduced significant changes in the laws that underpin guardianship and powers of attorney to be more consistent with human rights principles and United Nations conventions. In particular circumstances or occasions (for example, if you are admitted to hospital, while you are travelling overseas, or when two medical specialists certify that you no longer have capacity for making financial decisions) Immediately (your attorney can start making decisions about all your financial and property affairs as soon as they have signed their acceptance of the role, including while you have capacity) ![]() When you do not have capacity to make decisions for financial matters (meaning that your attorney can only make decisions during those times when you do not have capacity to make financial decisions yourself) ![]() However, you can specify when an attorney’s power to make financial decisions will begin, including: You can write down your ‘views, wishes and preferences’ in an enduring power, and your attorney must be guided by these when making any decisions for you after you have lost capacity.Īn attorney for personal and health matters can only make decisions for you when you do not have capacity to make those decisions. You can only make an enduring power of attorney while you still have the capacity to make your own decisions. Enduring power of attorneyĪn enduring power of attorney allows you to appoint someone to make financial decisions and/or personal and health decisions for you during times when you don’t have capacity to make them yourself. For example, if you regularly travel, you might authorise your attorney to make financial decisions whenever you are overseas. Under a general power of attorney, your attorney can only act on your behalf for the time period, task or circumstances you have specified. Typically, a general power of attorney is in place for a specific time – for example, if you are travelling overseas or physically injured and therefore need someone else to deal with your finances on a temporary basis. It ends if you lose decision-making capacity, so it’s not a future planning tool. General power of attorneyĪ general power of attorney can only be used while you have capacity to make your own decisions, and it can only be used to make decisions about financial matters. This option is about which medical treatments you do or don’t wish to receive, and there’s more information about it further down this page. You can also make an Advanced Health Directive to specify what health or medical decisions you would like made during periods when you don’t have capacity to make the decisions yourself. Other states and territories have similar documents, although they may have different names and different rules. A general power of attorney is used while you still have capacity, while an enduring power of attorney can only be used if you have lost capacity. In Queensland there are two types of powers of attorney. Types of powers of attorney in Queensland Understand the effect of making a power of attorney To appoint a power of attorney, you must: You can also appoint different attorneys for each role, and you can set limits on the decisions they are able to make – for example, only decisions about buying and selling real estate. The power of attorney can authorise your attorney to act in all financial, personal and health matters, or you can choose to appoint an attorney to act only for financial or personal matters. Personal or health decisions – for example, where you live, who you live with, your day-to-day life in the community, who you see, what activities you do, which healthcare services you receive. ![]() In Queensland, a power of attorney can cover:įinancial decisions – for example, administering your bank accounts, paying your bills, buying or selling shares, managing your superannuation funds, buying or selling property. Your decision-maker is known as the ‘attorney’ and you are known as the principal. A power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to nominate someone to act as your decision-maker and manage certain decisions on your behalf.
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