Sample EPAs

IN THE ARTICLE ON THIS PAGE IS:- A SAMPLE – AS A GUIDE ONLY OF AN ENDURING POWER OF ATTORNEY BY WHICH A MARRIED PERSON MIGHT:- APPOINT A SPOUSE. BUT READ ON THIS WEB-PAGE WHY THERE SHOULD ALMOST ALWAYS ALSO BE AN APPOINTMENT OF AN ADULT CHILD - OR ONE OR MORE OF THEM – OR SOME OTHER ADULT – TO GUARD AGAINST SOMETHING HAPPENING TO BOTH SPOUSES [ or partners or de factors] IN ANY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES MENTIONED. “WHY ONE NEEDS AN ENDURING POWER OF ATTORNEY” Many people have not realised that just as crucial as their up-to-date Will is an Enduring Power of Attorney in respect of their assets. THE CIRCUMSTANCES It is needed to be used when a person is NOT mentally alert due to temporarily or permanently having a condition causing brain impairment - whether from an accident , stroke, Altzheimers Disease etc. BUT it needs to have been signed BEFORE such event. Accordingly, it is the Attorney who is the only person who can sign for the sale of a home when a person cannot understand the nature of a transaction and when the home has to be sold upon entry into a Nursing Home or into a retirement complex with care facilities. Both spouses need such a document even when they are both the owners jointly of their home and they should have the document (whatever their age) because without warning one of them can have a stroke or an accident causing incapacity. In that case the “well” spouse at some stage desires to sell to wind down to a smaller home or unit - or into a Retirement Village - or even to move house to another suburb to be nearer to where the incapacitated spouse is in a Nursing Home. Sometimes a spouse wants to move to be close to a daughter or son when losing the constant companionship of their spouse. The bad news is that without the document done previously in readiness, the “well” person of the two is prevented - or delayed - from making any such move, and finances might be frozen affecting the options available to the ill spouse - as well as affecting the options of the “well” one. Often it is the children as “substitute” Attorneys in properly prepared documents who will need to sign for a surviving parent in certain circumstances of age or illness. In the absence of the above documents, the unsatisfactory alternative is an Application to a government department – in Sth. Aust it is the Guardianship Board - with its consequential lapse of time and long and difficult documents with which to cope, including an actual hearing before the tribunal. THE NATURE OF THE DOCUMENT The essential document in Sth. Aust. is a General and Enduring Power of Attorney which if signed whilst sufficiently mentally alert, can be used on the person’s behalf in ANY of the above events. We are not invulnerable. God never said that christians would not get ill! One of the dangers that exist if a person does not take the existing opportunity which allows one to appoint one’s own Attorney is that you & your family could lose control of options and assets. ASSETS needing to be covered by an Enduring Power of Attorney :- Houses and land, and motor vehicles and other tangible assets, and bank & LLL deposits and all other investments, shares and other financial and non-financial assets. Click the links below for THE SAMPLE – AS A GUIDE ONLY – FOR South Australia. • Sample EPA A • Sample EPA B BUT YOU ARE WARNED TO ONLY USE THE EXAMPLES TO CONSIDER WHAT YOU MIGHT WANT FOR YOURSELF AND CONTACT WILL MAKERS BY EMAIL TO HAVE SOME COMMENTS. YOU MAY DRAFT YOUR OWN AND EMAIL FOR OUR COMMENTS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NEXT – BU T DO NOT SIGN BECAUSE OF THE LAW RELATING TO THE VALIDITY OF ENDURING POWERS OF ATTORNEY. If you are single, separated, divorced, widowed, etc you will have different aspects to consider than a married person. You need to ascertain the law relating to those aspects. If married, or in a de facto relationship, YOU WILL NEED TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS WHETHER to have as “substitute/s” or “backstop attorney” one, two or more children. They must be 18 years of age and must accept the appointment by signing. The alternatives for appointing children will involve the following type of provision: click here. OUR STRONG RECOMMENDATION: From the above one can see how important it is to contact Will Makers Pty Ltd & discuss. Seek more help by phoning us at (08) 8322 2778 and asking for Peter Pearce or by emailing us at sacopa@picknowl.com.au