Estate · Advance Care Planning
Make sure your family is never guessing.
A Power of Attorney and an Advance Care Directive are quiet documents. Most people sign them in fifteen minutes and never think about them again — until the day they make everything easier.
What we handle
The full set of planning documents for if you cannot decide for yourself.
Ensuring that your affairs are in order means dealing with two distinct situations: what happens to your property when you pass, and what happens if you cannot make decisions for yourself while you are still living. Both matter equally. A complete plan covers both.
A General Power of Attorney grants someone authority to handle legal and financial matters on your behalf within whatever scope you set. An Enduring Power of Attorney does the same, and remains valid even if you lose capacity later. For most people, the enduring version is the right choice.
Since 2013, South Australia has had a single Advance Care Directive form covering future health care, accommodation, and personal matters. It lets you document your preferences and appoint a substituted decision-maker. It must be made freely and with full understanding — we make sure both boxes are ticked.
If you are here because…
Three reasons people put this in place.
You are doing your Will anyway.
Power of Attorney and Advance Care Directive are signed alongside it in the same visit. Most clients leave with all three in hand. It is a quiet, important hour.
A parent's health is changing.
These documents must be made while a person still has capacity. If you have aging parents and the documents are not yet in place, do not wait.
You travel, or work in higher-risk jobs.
If something happens to you suddenly, someone has to have the legal authority to act. Without a Power of Attorney, your family has to apply to a tribunal. With one, they can act in days.
Common questions
What people most often ask on the first call.
A General Power of Attorney grants authority for legal and financial decisions, with the scope determined by the grantor, and ends if you lose capacity. An Enduring Power of Attorney continues even if you lose capacity. Most people need the enduring version.
Any competent adult you trust. Typically a spouse, an adult child, a sibling, or a close friend. You can appoint more than one and require them to decide together, or in a hierarchy. We help you choose the structure that suits your family.
No. A substituted decision-maker cannot refuse pain relief, or refuse the natural provision of food and water by mouth. They can refuse most other treatment, including life-sustaining measures, if your Advance Care Directive permits it.
The default is that family, partners and treating clinicians make decisions under the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act. It works, but it can be slow, contested, and stressful. An Advance Care Directive is the cleanest answer.
We offer complimentary fireproof document storage at the office, accessible during business hours. Most clients prefer their originals held with us, with copies at home. We keep your Will, Power of Attorney and Advance Care Directive together.
We'll call you back the same business day.
Tell us briefly what's happening. Steven will call you back for a free 15-minute conversation, the same business day. No obligation, no pressure to engage us afterwards.
Thank you. We'll be in touch today.
Your message is with our team. If it's urgent, you're welcome to call us directly on (08) 8522 6025.