6-8 William Street, Nambour, Sunshine Coast

Enduring Power of Attorney

Enduring Power of Attorney Sunshine Coast Legal Services

We all accept that ones health can fail or one could be involved in a serious accident. You could be too ill or injured to make choices about your medical treatment or could suffer a disability (such as a stroke) that prevents you from communicating your own health care, personal or financial decisions, for example, where you want to live and the control of your finances or sale of your assets.

What is as Enduring Power of Attorney

Whilst a Legal Will controls your assets after you have died, a Will attorney appointed under an Enduring Power of Attorney looks after you while you are alive. Your attorney can do for you most things that you can normally do for yourself. You can decide who can act as your attorney (and, if more than one person, how eg: jointly, successively or by majority) and whether their power is to begin immediately, on a specific date or only on incapacity for financial matters.

An Enduring Power of Attorney allows you to appoint one or more individuals to act on your behalf under certain circumstances. The person making the Enduring Power of Attorney is referred to as the principal, and the person appointed is known as the attorney.

Under the legal Powers of Attorney Act the principal may appoint an attorney for financial issues or for personal/health issues. He or she may appoint the same attorney/s for both issues or different attorneys for each.

An Enduring Power of Attorney ‘endures’ even after a principal has lost capacity to make decisions, whether that be a permanent or temporary loss.

A General Power of Attorney is valid only whilst the principal has power to make decisions for themselves, and would usually be used for specific purposes. For example it may be short term whilst the principal is travelling, or it may be used for business or company purposes.

You may also make an Advance Health Directive which details your health care wishes in certain circumstances.

A Wills attorney can only make decisions about a principal’s health care and general welfare if the principal does not have the capacity to do so.

Contact our Sunshine Coast law firm in Nambour for Power of Attorney legal advice from our Estate Planning and Will solicitors if you require assistance in the:

  • Preparation of a Power of Attorney;

  • Amendment or revocation of a Power of Attorney;

  • Determination of rights regarding the obligations arising from a Power of Attorney.

By your appointing who you want as your attorney(s) under an Enduring Power of Attorney you assist your family and/or friends because otherwise they would need to bring a tribunal application to be formally appointed to enable them to adequately assist you.

Meet Our Wills and Estate Planning Team

Contact our Sunshine Coast Will Lawyers and Estate Planning Solicitors for Enduring Power of Attorney Sunshine Coast legal advice and services.

Peter Boyce

Consultant

Peter has been practising as a Nambour Solicitor since 1977 and joined Butler McDermott Lawyers the same year.

With over 40 years practicing as a Sunshine Coast lawyer, Peter has extensive knowledge of various facets of law.

He has practised in all areas of litigation and has special interests in:

  • Criminal law
  • Civil and Commercial litigation
  • Retirement Village matters
  • Sports law
  • Resumption of land and compensation claims

 

Peter has specialised knowledge of and experience with resumption matters as a result of the Traveston Dam project, road corridors, Main Roads and water pipeline. He is renowned for his professional approach and is an experienced and determined advocate.

Brent King

Solicitor/Director

Brent works as a litigation lawyer, providing litigation legal advice in relation to both civil and criminal law matters, including:
  • Defamation Claims
  • Contract and Debt Disputes
  • Building and Construction Disputes
  • Planning Matters
  • Criminal Law and Traffic Legal Matters
Having grown up on the Sunshine Coast and joining Butler McDermott after the completion of his studies, Brent appreciates the needs of our clients, and brings a particularly commercial approach to litigation. Brent is a member of the Queensland Law Society and the Sunshine Coast Law Association, and has litigated a wide variety of matters in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts.

Al Upton

Solicitor/Director

After arriving at Butler McDermott Lawyers in 2016, Al quickly progressed to running our Wills and Estates section and has successfully litigated disputes in the Supreme and District Courts of Queensland in the early stages of his career.

In the years that followed Al has now moved to assist our clients with commercial and property matters having achieved positive outcomes in that area as well as general litigation. Al’s experience has him uniquely placed to provide quality advice in the areas of property, commercial, wills and estates and general litigation.

Al is involved in giving back to the community, sitting on the board for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Sundale Community Foundation. He otherwise became a director of Butler McDermott Lawyers in November 2021.