“Anyone who is aged 18 or older who has the mental ability to make decisions for themselves can arrange for someone else to make these decisions for them in the future. This legal authority is called “Power of Attorney”.

The person who is given power of attorney is known as the “attorney” and must be over 18 years old.

The person who is giving the power of attorney is known as the “donor”. A donor can appoint just one attorney, or more than one attorney, to act as follows:

For example, someone can appoint attorneys to act jointly when making decisions over their money, but state that only one attorney, acting independently (or severally), should decide where the person should live. The person has the right to say the attorneys must act jointly on all their affairs.

If more than one attorney is appointed to deal with the same issue, they must act jointly unless the power of attorney states they do not need to. The attorneys must agree before they act on the issue. 

There are three different types of power of attorney:

Before a Lasting Power of Attorney arrangement is legal, it must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian or OPG.