Law Society - Web Capture - Powers of Attorney
New Zealand Law Society
Official guidance
Statutory oversight
2026-10-08
Next review: 2027-01-08
New Zealand
High confidence
published
Codex research — primary source check
Evidence boundary: Undated guidance with page update shown as 4 September 2024, independently checked 8 October 2026. Original library capture was June 2026, not the source publication date. This is the Law Society’s explanatory guidance, not a ruling on a particular EPA or capacity assessment.
Short Answer
Law Society guidance explains how enduring powers of attorney operate, when decision-making authority starts and ends, and what families can do when no EPA exists.
Why it matters
Discuss capacity, commencement, successor attorneys and reporting conditions with a qualified adviser. Where no valid EPA exists and capacity is lost, ask about Family Court options.
Key Points
- •A general power of attorney loses effect when the donor loses mental capacity; an EPA must be arranged while the donor has capacity.
- •A property EPA can operate immediately or only on mental incapacity, as chosen in the document.
- •A personal care and welfare EPA operates only on mental incapacity; important decisions require a doctor’s certificate, while other decisions require reasonable grounds.
- •Only one personal care and welfare attorney acts at a time; property attorneys can have specified joint, separate or majority arrangements.
- •A capable donor can cancel an EPA through written notice. An EPA ends at death, when estate administration takes over.
Full Summary & Notes
Law Society guidance explains how enduring powers of attorney operate, when decision-making authority starts and ends, and what families can do when no EPA exists.
Read bundled source notes
The saved source file may include fuller notes and references than the indexed summary. Check its dates and evidence limits.
Loading saved source notes…
Document Details & Metadata
Related Resources
Office for Seniors guidance on selecting attorneys, preparing the two EPA forms and arranging a qualified witness, with links to the standard forms.
Historical property EPA notes and appointment form, rather than the separate standard explanation; 17 physical pages and no appended donor-witness certificate.
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.
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.
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.