Office for Seniors — Enduring Power of Attorney in relation to personal care and welfare: notes, form and witness certificate
Office for Seniors, Ministry of Social Development
Official guidance
Official primary
2026-10-09
Next review: 2027-04-09
New Zealand
High confidence
verified
Primary-source EPA audit, 9 October 2026
Evidence boundary: Blank official package, not an executed instrument, certification that a donor has capacity, clinical assessment or individual legal advice. Byte identity applies to the current Office for Seniors PDF on 9 October 2026, not all official formats or future law. Use current primary guidance and a qualified authorised witness for setup.
Short Answer
Personal care and welfare EPA package: five pages of notes, seven appointment pages and three witness-certificate pages; current Office for Seniors PDF matches the preserved original.
Why it matters
Prepare a care/welfare EPA adviser appointment by considering the attorney, successors, wishes, scope and oversight. Use the notes to distinguish signing the instrument from later decision-specific activation, while checking current official guidance.
Key Points
- •Fifteen physical pages comprise notes/glossary (1–5), appointment form (6–12) and donor-witness certificate (13–15), each with separate printed numbering.
- •One personal care/welfare attorney may be appointed under this EPA; successor appointments are separate. This contrasts with multiple property attorneys.
- •The notes distinguish incapacity evidence for significant matters from reasonable grounds for other matters, with capacity considered at the time and for the decision concerned.
- •The notes describe supporting the donor’s own decisions, promoting welfare and best interests, considering prior wishes, consultation and coordination with another EPA attorney.
- •The notes list decisions an attorney cannot make, including refusing standard treatment intended to save life or prevent serious harm. The appointment is not unlimited medical consent authority.
- •The form allows specified care/welfare scope, successor appointments, consultation recipients, information recipients and added conditions; named information recipients provide an oversight mechanism.
Full Summary & Notes
The preserved personal care and welfare EPA package contains five pages of notes and glossary, seven pages of appointment form and a three-page donor-witness certificate. It helps a prospective donor consider an attorney and successors, the matters covered, prior EPAs, consultation, information sharing and conditions before obtaining professional advice and witnessing. The current Office for Seniors PDF is byte-identical to this original. Its notes distinguish significant decisions requiring incapacity certification or a court decision from other decisions based on reasonable grounds, and set out limits on attorney powers. The publisher lists July 2021, while PDF modification metadata is September 2021; neither supplies a verified exact first-publication day. The blank package is not an executed EPA or a capacity assessment.
Read bundled source notes
The saved source file may include fuller notes and references than the indexed summary. Check its dates and evidence limits.
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Document Details & Metadata
Related Resources
Property EPA package with five notes pages, fourteen appointment pages and three witness-certificate pages; current official PDF and Word formats have a trust-law reference discrepancy.
Historical property EPA notes and appointment form, rather than the separate standard explanation; 17 physical pages and no appended donor-witness certificate.
March 2025 Office for Seniors introductory EPA leaflet and preparation checklist; two physical pages, separate from legal forms and standard explanations.
The ten-page original carries footer PTEL120 06/21, visually verified as June 2021. Its current [Public Trust download](https://www.publictrust.co.nz/products-and-services/trusts/) has a November 2023 filename and modification date; these are separate version and production clues, not proof of first publication. The [Trusts Act 2019](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2019/38/en/latest.pdf), checked 9 October 2026, supplies the exact duties, disclosure procedures and duration rules.
Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney Simple answers for the big questions Your life Your legacy Take a moment to think about how far you've come.
Printed PTPS26 10/25 dates this 22-page brochure version to October 2025; PDF metadata records production on 29 October, not a verified first-release day. The [publisher’s probate guidance](https://www.publictrust.co.nz/products-and-services/when-someone-has-died/applying-for-probate/) also explains letters of administration where no executor is willing or able to act. Read the simplified payment and distribution statements against [Administration Act 1969 ss47–48 and 65](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1969/52/en/latest.pdf) and [prescribed amounts regulation 4A](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/secondary-legislation/pco-drafted/2009/70/en/latest.pdf).