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Effective September 1, 2011, the Adult Guardianship and Planning
Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 came into force, substantially
amending the existing Power of Attorney Act (British Columbia) and
the Representation Agreement Act (British Columbia). This bulletin
highlights some of the significant changes made by the new
legislation to enduring powers of attorneys and representation
agreements.
ENDURING POWERS OF ATTORNEYS
An enduring power of attorney (a
"PoA") allows you to appoint one or more
persons to make financial decisions on your behalf in the event you
are unable to make these decisions yourself. Some of the
significant changes to PoAs made by the new legislation include the
following:
(a) attorneys will no longer be entitled to compensation for
acting as attorney, unless the PoA expressly authorizes the
compensation and sets the amount or rate;
(b) the authority of an attorney who is a spouse (legal or
common law) of the person who made the PoA will end in the event of
an end of the marriage or marriage-like relationship;
(c) in certain circumstances, an attorney may change or create a
new beneficiary designation for a life insurance policy, registered
plan or TFSA owned by the person who made the PoA;
(d) in certain circumstances, an attorney may make a gift, loan
or charitable gift from the property of the person who made the
PoA; and
(e) a revocation of an earlier PoA will not take effect until
written notice has been given to each attorney.
REPRESENTATION AGREEMENTS
The new legislation will also affect representation agreements.
A representation agreement allows you to appoint one or more
persons as representatives to make health care and personal care
decisions on your behalf in the event you are unable to make these
decisions yourself. One of the significant changes to
representation agreements is that representatives will no longer be
entitled to compensation for acting as representatives unless the
representation agreement expressly authorizes the compensation and
sets the amount or rate.
If you have made a PoA or a representation agreement, you may
wish to review and revise those documents in light of the new
legislation which came into force on September 1, 2011.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
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