Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) for Personal Care & Welfare

Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) for Personal Care & Welfare  is a legal document that gives someone you trust the power to look after your health and welfare, if you’re unable to do so, due to an illness, accident or loss of mental capacity. Your appointed attorney must be over 20 years of age, not bankrupt the age of 18, who has full legal capacity.

It‘s important to understand that an EPA for personal care and welfare is not an ‘advance directive’ or ‘living Will’. Directions not to resuscitate – or not to go to great lengths to prolong life – do not belong in an EPA.

You decide whether your attorney can make decisions about everything to do with your care and welfare or only some things.

However, no matter what you decide they cannot:

• make decisions about you getting married, separated or divorced
• make decisions about the adoption of your children
• consent to surgery or treatment of your brain, including electro-convulsive treatment (ECT) for the purposes of changing your behaviour
• refuse consent to standard medical treatment that could save your life or prevent serious damage to you
• allow you to take part in any medical experiment, unless it might save your life or prevent serious damage to your health.

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