Enduring Power of Attorney in BC: How It Works

A power of attorney is one of the most useful documents most adults can sign — and one of the most misunderstood. In BC, it lets someone you choose manage your financial and legal affairs, and an enduring power of attorney keeps doing that if you lose the capacity to manage them yourself. This is how it works under BC law, what it does and does not cover, and how to sign one that actually holds up.

If you want us to prepare one, see our power of attorney service; this post explains the document itself.

Ordinary vs enduring power of attorney

BC’s Power of Attorney Act recognises two kinds, and the difference is the whole point:

• An ordinary power of attorney lets your attorney act while you are capable — useful when you are travelling, busy, or want help with a specific transaction. It ends the moment you become mentally incapable.
• An enduring power of attorney is written to continue after you lose capacity. This is the one that matters for incapacity planning: if you have a stroke or develop dementia, your attorney can keep paying your bills, dealing with your bank, and managing your property without anyone applying to court.

If you only sign an ordinary power of attorney, it stops working exactly when your family needs it most. For estate and incapacity planning, you want the enduring version.

What a power of attorney covers — and what it doesn’t

A BC power of attorney covers your financial and legal matters: banking, paying bills, managing investments, dealing with real estate, filing taxes, running a business interest. You can make it broad (everything) or limited (one property, one transaction).

It does not cover your health care or personal care. No power of attorney — enduring or not — lets someone decide your medical treatment or where you live. Those decisions need a separate document: a representation agreement, made under BC’s Representation Agreement Act. The two documents are the standard pair in a BC plan; one handles money, the other handles your person. Most adults should have both, signed at the same time, alongside a will.

Choosing your attorney

Your attorney holds real power over your finances, so the choice matters more than the form. Most people appoint a trusted spouse, adult child, sibling, or close friend; some appoint a professional. Whoever you choose should be honest, organised, financially capable, and likely to be available when needed.

You can appoint more than one attorney, and how you structure them changes how decisions get made:

• Jointly — they must act together and agree on everything. Safer, but it can deadlock or slow things down.
• Jointly and severally (independently) — each can act alone. Faster and more practical; for most families this is the model we recommend.
• In sequence — an alternate steps in only if the first attorney cannot or will not act.

Your attorney’s legal duties

An attorney under an enduring power of attorney is a fiduciary. BC law requires them to:

• act honestly and in good faith, in your best interests;
• exercise the care, diligence, and skill of a reasonably prudent person;
• act within the authority you gave them, and keep to your known wishes;
• keep your property separate from their own and not make gifts or loans except as the document allows;
• keep proper records of what they do with your money and property.

An attorney is not free to do as they like with your assets. They cannot make or change your will, and generally cannot change beneficiary designations. Misuse of a power of attorney is a recognised source of elder financial abuse, which is why the document, the choice of attorney, and the records all matter.

Signing one that holds up

An enduring power of attorney only helps if banks, lenders, and the Land Title Office will actually rely on it. That depends on getting the execution right: you and your attorney both sign; your signature is witnessed (generally two adult witnesses, or one if the witness is a BC lawyer or notary); and the people who witness must be eligible to do so. A document signed incorrectly — or one a financial institution decides it cannot accept — is worse than useless in a crisis.

You also choose when it takes effect: immediately on signing, or on a future event such as a doctor confirming incapacity (a “springing” power of attorney). Springing versions sound appealing but create a practical problem — your attorney has to prove the triggering event before anyone will deal with them — so for most clients an immediate enduring power of attorney, held by someone you trust, works better.

When it ends

An enduring power of attorney ends when you die (after that, your will and executor take over), when you revoke it while still capable, when your attorney can no longer act, or on specific events — the attorney’s bankruptcy, the dissolution of a corporate attorney, a conviction involving dishonesty, or, where your attorney is your spouse, your separation. Because of that last point, anyone going through a separation should review their power of attorney, not just their will.

What we do

We draft enduring powers of attorney as part of a complete BC estate plan — usually together with a representation agreement and a will, so your finances, your health care, and your estate are all covered. We talk through who should act, how to structure multiple attorneys, and the safeguards that fit your family, then prepare and witness the documents so they work when they are needed.

To get yours drawn up, talk to our estate planning team.