Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA)
Sometimes, you will want someone else to be able to make decisions on your behalf about your property and finances or personal care and welfare.
What is an enduring power of attorney?
When an injury or illness means you’re unable to make decisions or manage your own affairs - or if managing your financial affairs is simply all too much - an attorney appointed through an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) can step in and do it for you. You can also establish an EPA when you simply want someone else to take responsibility on your behalf.
EPAs are as important as wills for protecting you and your family - they ensure that your care, wellbeing, and finances are taken care of by people you trust, or a trustee corporation like Public Trust, in the way that you want. Spouses, partners or next of kin aren’t automatically entitled to step in to manage a person’s finances if they’re incapable.
Online EPA
Witnessing appointment is included in these costs
The online platform is accessible 24/7 and fully secure
Our support team is based in New Zealand, and available for a live chat or phone call
Our services can cover all needs – from simple to complex
If you need to meet in person for support – please contact us for estimated costs
Expert review add on $120
To re-open an existing online Welfare or Property single EPA it is only $175
To re-open an existing online Welfare or Property mirror EPA it is only $263
In person consultation
*Please note:
Fees are indicative and include GST.
If additional time is needed and agreed at the consultation, further charges from $285.20 (including GST) per hour apply.
Payment is due at the initial consultation appointment and cancellation fees apply. Please read Terms of Engagement.
Witnessing appointment is included in these costs.
What is an Expert Review?
Your will should be personal – it should reflect your unique life and legacy. To make sure everything says what you need it to, or that you’ve found exactly the right words to explain things to your loved ones, you might like someone with years of experience to review your online documentation.
A Public Trust Expert Review can do just that! One of our highly knowledgeable and experienced trustees can review your will, statement of wishes or EPA, giving you total peace of mind that your wishes are accurately and legally reflected in your will or EPA.
Once you have paid for your EPA, simply purchase an Expert Review and someone will be in touch after reviewing your documentation for next steps.
Without an EPA in place, your loved ones would have to apply to the court for a property manager and/or a welfare guardian to be appointed in order to make decisions or take actions. This can be time consuming, costly and stressful; the person appointed by the Court may not be someone you would have chosen for the role.
Your nominated attorney will begin acting once you have lost capacity or in the case of a property EPA, you could choose for that to come into effect immediately. It would only be in the event that there is no EPA in place, there would be the need to apply to the court for authority to act. You can also appoint successor attorneys in the EPA documents in case their first choice attorneys cannot act as attorneys.
Activating enduring power of attorney (EPA)
Online platform
Easily create your EPA from the comfort of your couch, in your own time (you will still need to visit in person to complete the process).
Accessible 24/7 and fully secure.
Local support team on hand via live chat 7 days a week.
Adaptable to your needs, covering all situations from simple to complex.
In person consultation
Get expert support and guidance for all the important decisions when making your EPA.
Visit a Customer Centre near you - we’ve got New Zealand covered.
Adaptable to your needs, covering all situations from simple to complex.
Why choose us?
Public Trust is one of the most experienced trustee services organisation in New Zealand.
Our support team is NZ based, with local customer centres across the country and a crew of helpful staff available for live chat 7 days a week or a phone call when you need us during the week.
Our online platform makes it quick and easy to create an EPA – a crucial part to protecting the legacy you’re building every day. So what are you waiting for?
Find a booklet easier to navigate?
We have created a helpful booklet that has some simple answers for the big questions around wills and enduring power of attorneys in English or Samoan.
Frequently Asked Questions about EPAs
An EPA for personal care and welfare comes into effect when the donor - the person who created the EPA - is deemed incapable of acting for themselves.
For an EPA for property, the donor can choose when this comes into effect - either immediately (while they are mentally capable) or at a point in time when they are deemed incapable.
Ordinary powers of attorney are best used for temporary purposes – for example, if you’re going overseas and want someone to be able to send you cash from your accounts or to pay bills here. Ordinary powers of attorney stop being effective if the donor loses capacity.
EPAs are made while the Donor has mental capacity and continue to be effective after the Donor loses capacity. At Public Trust, we only prepare enduring powers of attorney.
No, but the the EPA document does need to be witnessed by an authorised witness such as a lawyer or an authorised Public Trust employee and the same authorised witness must also sign a certificate to accompany the EPA documents. Public Trust can help with ensuring your EPA contains everything required to protect your legacy.
Yes! You can prepare an enduring power of attorney yourself via our online platform. It's easy to use and doesn't take long. You will need to visit us in person to complete the process. Of course, if you prefer to have expert help, we can also prepare your EPA for you.
You need to think carefully about who to choose as an attorney and ensure they understand their role and responsibilities. There are different responsibilities for the two types of EPA - see our pages on each for more detail.
You can decide when an EPA for property comes into effect and can add special terms and conditions. You can also state who you want your attorney to report to and consult with when making decisions on your behalf, or place restrictions on their authority.
If the donor is mentally capable, they can revoke an EPA or an attorney’s appointment at any time by written notice.
No, spouses don't automatically have enduring powers of attorney. That's why we recommend (if you decide your spouse is the right person for this) appointing them legally by making an EPA.
A personal care and welfare attorney can deal with personal care and welfare matters once a medical certificate is obtained from a doctor to confirm that the donor is incapable of acting for themselves.
When the authority is used, the attorney will need to provide a certified copy of the EPA together with a certificate of non-revocation (which declares that the donor is alive and has not withdrawn the appointment) to any institution or agency the attorney is dealing with.
For a property EPA, the donor gets to elect in the EPA document if they want the property attorneys to act jointly, severally or jointly and severally. The attorneys can be an individual, multiple individuals or a trustee company like Public Trust.
For an EPA for personal care and welfare, the donor can only appoint one person at a time to be the personal care and welfare attorney but can appoint back up attorneys.