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.
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