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4. The attorney’s authority

A donor cannot just give to the attorney a general authority over all the donor’s property and financial affairs.  He/She must expressly spell out the specific matters, property or financial affairs in relation to which the attorney(s) has authority to act.  Both Form 1 and Form 2 contain a useful list of the most common authorities:  

 

My attorney has authority to act on my behalf:
(a)     to collect any income due to me;
(b)     to collect any capital due to me;
(c)     to sell any of my movable property;
(d)     to sell, lease or surrender my home or any of my immovable property;
(e)     To spend any of my income;
(f)      to spend any of my capital; or

 

The above list certainly is not an exhaustive one.  If the donor finds the above list not adequate, he/she may specify in further detail the property or financial affairs that the attorney is authorized to deal with.

 

Please note that the donor may tick as many of the boxes as he/she wants, BUT must not leave all boxes with no tick and fail to list anything regarding the particular property or financial affairs for which the attorney(s) is to be given authority to act. That is, you must specify at least one particular area in which you want your attorney to act. Otherwise, the EPA will not be valid.