What are Enduring Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Guardianship, Advance Health Directives

Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA)

Everybody owns some form of asset whether it is real estate, a bank account, a motor vehicle, shareholdings, etc.

So, what would happen to your assets if:

• You are outside of Australia, on holiday or business for example, and an issue related to your financial affairs arises?
• You suddenly lose your physical and/or mental capacity, temporarily or permanently, because of an accident or illness and you cannot manage your financial affairs?

Who will make those important decisions when you are unable to do so yourself?

This is when an EPA would assist you.

An Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document within which you appoint a trusted person or persons to make decisions on your behalf in relation to your financial and/or property affairs. These trusted people will be known as your ‘attorneys’.

You may choose for your EPA to be effective either:

• As soon as you and your appointed attorney or attorneys have signed your EPA; or,
• Only when you have suffered an illness or injury which renders you incapable of attending to your financial and/or property affairs yourself.

In the unfortunate event that you lose the ability to manage your financial and/or property affairs yourself, it is vital that you have an appointed attorney or attorneys so that your financial affairs can be dealt with quickly to meet your medical and/or personal needs as well as the needs of your family.

We can prepare an EPA for anyone over the age of eighteen years who has legal capacity.

If you wish to prepare an EPA, please contact Lewis Kitson Lawyers.

It is important to remember that an EPA does not permit your attorney to make decisions related to your health, care, and lifestyle.

If you wish to know more about appointing somebody who can make decisions related to your health, care, and lifestyle please continue reading about Enduring Powers of Guardianship (EPG) below for more information.

Enduring Power of Guardianship (EPG)

Have you ever considered what may happen in the event you are involved in a serious accident or if you were to suddenly suffer from a serious illness?

Who would make decisions for you concerning your health and well-being when you are unable to make those decisions for yourself? These important decisions can include the health care treatment you receive, surgical procedures undertaken on you, where you live, with whom you live, and what day-to-day activities you may engage in?

You can control how decisions related to your health, care, and lifestyle are made in the future if you are unable to make those decisions for yourself.

This is when an EPG would assist you.

An EPG is a legal document within which you appoint a trusted person or persons to make decisions on your behalf in relation to your health, care, and lifestyle.

An EPG is only effective when you are incapable, temporarily, or permanently, of making decisions about your health, care, and lifestyle on your own behalf.

We can prepare an Enduring Power of Guardianship from anyone over the age of eighteen years who has legal capacity.

If you wish to prepare an EPG, please contact Lewis Kitson Lawyers.

It is also important to remember that you can exercise additional control over what health care treatments you may or may not consent to receive if you are unable to make those decisions for yourself.

An Advanced Health Directive is a legal document that allows you to provide or withhold consent for specific health care, surgical, medical, dental treatment or procedures including life-sustaining measures and palliative care.

If you wish to know more about making an Advanced Health Directive, please continue reading Advanced Health Directives (AHD) below for more information.

Advanced Health Directive (AHD)

If you were unable to make decisions about or communicate your wishes concerning what treatments you may or may not wish to receive, how would you let others know your treatment decisions?

If you do not have an AHD and you are unable to make decisions about your treatment options then these decisions will be made for you and those decisions made for you may not be in accordance with your wishes, values, or beliefs.

This is when an AHD would assist you.

An Advanced Health Directive is a legal document that allows you to provide or withhold consent for specific health care, surgical, medical, dental treatment or procedures including life-sustaining measures and palliative care and can be prepared in consultation with your doctor.

Preparing an AHD can ensure that your religious beliefs and/or personal values are upheld.

An AHD also helps to remove the burden of having your family or loved ones make life and death or other difficult medical or health-care decisions for you when you are unable to make such decisions for yourself.

An AHD is only effective when you have lost the capacity to make treatment decisions for yourself.

We can prepare an AHD from anyone over the age of eighteen years who has legal capacity.

If you wish to prepare an AHD, please contact Lewis Kitson Lawyers.