Powers of Attorney in Victoria: What You Need to Know

Capacity is decision-specific — and support comes first

Victorian law presumes an adult has decision-making capacity unless there is evidence to the contrary. Capacity is assessed for the particular decision and time, not as a single permanent label. A person may understand a routine payment but not a complex asset transaction, or may regain capacity after a temporary illness. An unwise choice does not, by itself, establish incapacity.

A person has decision-making capacity for a matter when they can understand information relevant to the decision and its effect, retain it to the extent necessary, use or weigh it, and communicate the decision in some way. Information and assistance should be provided in a way that supports the person to decide wherever possible.

A supportive attorney helps an adult who retains capacity obtain information, communicate decisions and give effect to them. The supportive attorney supports the principal's own decision; they are not a substitute decision maker and do not supervise an enduring attorney. The current Regulations prescribe separate supportive-attorney appointment and revocation forms.

General non-enduring powers

A general non-enduring power can authorise an attorney broadly across financial affairs or be confined to specified acts or transactions. It can be useful during travel, temporary unavailability or for a particular transaction; it is not an incapacity-planning document. The principal signs the current form personally, or another person may sign in the principal's presence and at their direction—in that case, two other people must be present, witness the signature and sign. The Act also permits its remote-witnessing procedure.

The authority may start and end as the instrument provides and can be revoked while the principal has capacity. It also ends on the principal's death and, unlike an enduring power, if the principal loses decision-making capacity for the relevant financial matters. The current Department of Justice form and the proposed transaction should be checked before relying on it.

Choosing the authority and the people

An enduring appointment can cover financial matters, personal matters or defined parts of either category. Financial authority can include banking, bills, investments, tax and property. Personal authority can include accommodation, services and daily-life decisions, but not medical treatment decisions governed by the medical legislation.

The principal may appoint one or more attorneys and alternatives. Joint attorneys ordinarily act unanimously; several attorneys may act alone; and joint-and-several attorneys may act together or separately. Majority decision-making is available only where at least three attorneys are appointed and the instrument authorises it. These categories are not interchangeable. Under the current Act, if one joint attorney's power ends, the remaining joint attorney or attorneys may ordinarily continue unless the instrument provides otherwise; a named alternative can also operate in the circumstances specified. The instrument can allocate different matters, impose conditions and identify when each power starts.

An individual attorney must be at least 18, have decision-making capacity, not be an insolvent under administration and not be the principal's care worker, health provider or accommodation provider. For financial matters, a person convicted or found guilty of a dishonesty offence is eligible only if they disclose it to the principal and the disclosure is recorded in the instrument. A trustee company may be appointed for financial matters if no proceeding to wind it up has commenced; the Public Advocate may be appointed for personal matters. If an individual attorney later becomes insolvent, becomes one of the excluded service providers or, for financial matters, is found guilty of a dishonesty offence, their authority is revoked to that extent. Legal eligibility is only the starting point: consider honesty, reliability, competence, availability and conflicts.

Signing, witnessing and attorney acceptance

An enduring power must comply with the Act and the current prescribed form. The principal signs before two eligible adult witnesses who are present together; both witnesses sign and make the required certifications. One witness must be a medical practitioner or a person authorised to witness affidavits. The witnesses cannot be the attorney or alternative attorney, the person signing at the principal's direction, or fall within other excluded relationships identified by the Act.

Victorian law permits a permanent remote-witnessing procedure using audio-visual link and electronic processes, but each statutory step still matters. Remote execution should not be treated as an informal video call. The attorney must sign the acceptance included in the prescribed instrument before exercising authority.

Commencement is matter-specific. The instrument can provide for immediate commencement, a future time or event, or loss of capacity for the matter. Immediate authority can assist with convenience, but it also gives the attorney present authority and should be chosen deliberately. A capacity-triggered power may require evidence acceptable to the organisation asked to rely on it.

Duties, autonomy, gifts and conflicts

An enduring attorney must act honestly, diligently and in good faith; exercise reasonable skill and care; follow the instrument; avoid unauthorised conflict transactions; keep the principal's property separate; and keep accurate records and accounts. Personal-matter decisions must also reflect the Act's principles: the principal's will and preferences, participation, autonomy and least-restrictive options are central. “Best interests” is not a licence to disregard the principal's known choices.

• Gifts: the statutory authority is limited to gifts reasonable in the principal's circumstances and within specified categories, such as certain seasonal or special-event gifts or donations of a type the principal made or might reasonably be expected to make. Required records must be kept.
• Dependants: reasonable provision for a dependant's needs is a separate statutory subject and should not be treated as an unrestricted gift power.
• Conflicts: an attorney must not enter a conflict transaction unless the instrument, the principal while capable, VCAT or another legal basis permits it.
• Remuneration: family attorneys are not automatically entitled to charge. Any professional fee or other remuneration should be expressly and lawfully authorised.

Decisions that cannot be delegated

An enduring attorney cannot make or revoke the principal's Will or enduring power, vote for the principal at an election or referendum, consent to the principal entering or dissolving a marriage or entering a sexual relationship, make decisions about the care and wellbeing or adoption of the principal's child, enter a surrogacy arrangement, consent to a substitute-parentage order, manage the principal's estate after death, or consent to an unlawful act. These exclusions are separate from medical treatment decisions, which are governed by the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016.

Misuse can expose an attorney to orders, compensation, an account of profits and, in serious cases, criminal consequences. Our specialist guides explain attorney abuse and recovery options and the broader warning signs and responses to elder financial abuse.

Revocation, resignation and when authority stops

A principal with decision-making capacity for making an equivalent enduring power can revoke by executing the prescribed revocation instrument with the required two witnesses and certifications. After revocation, the principal must take reasonable steps to inform each affected attorney; failure to give that notice does not affect the revocation's validity. Separately, banks, advisers, Land Registry Services, care providers and anyone else relying on a copy should be notified so they do not continue to act on it. There is no statutory requirement to destroy every copy. Our revocation guide covers the detailed process.

A later enduring power generally revokes an earlier enduring power unless the later instrument specifies otherwise. Authority can also end or be affected by death, the occurrence of a condition in the instrument, an attorney's death or loss of eligibility, resignation, or an order of VCAT or the Supreme Court. Where VCAT makes a guardianship or administration order, an attorney must not exercise overlapping personal or financial authority unless VCAT permits it. Marriage, separation and divorce should trigger review, but should not be assumed automatically to cancel a Victorian enduring appointment.

Resignation rules depend on whether the principal has capacity, whether another attorney remains and whether the person is an attorney or alternative attorney. VCAT leave is required in some post-incapacity circumstances, not all. See the separate guide to resigning as an attorney in Victoria before using the prescribed form.

Oversight, VCAT and remedies

If there is no effective enduring power

If an adult has lost capacity for relevant decisions without an effective enduring power, authority does not automatically transfer to a relative. VCAT may appoint an administrator for specified financial and property matters or a guardian for specified personal matters. It may do so only where disability causes the person to lack capacity for the matter, an appointee is needed, and the order will promote the person's personal and social wellbeing. In deciding need, VCAT considers the person's will and preferences, less restrictive informal or negotiated alternatives, the views of people with a direct interest and preservation of important relationships. Any order must identify the matters for which authority is required. A suitable adult family member or friend may be appointed if the statutory suitability, conflict and duty requirements are met; appointment of a professional or public body is not inevitable. The specialist VCAT guide explains the application and evidence in detail.

VCAT and the Supreme Court have powers to examine and protect the principal's affairs. Depending on the application and evidence, available orders may address the operation or validity of an enduring power, require accounts or documents, revoke or suspend authority, or respond to an attorney's failure to comply with the Act. If there is no suitable authority and protective orders are needed, VCAT may consider guardianship or administration under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2019 (Vic). The dedicated VCAT guardianship and administration guide explains that distinct process.

Section 77 of the Powers of Attorney Act allows VCAT or the Supreme Court to order compensation for loss caused by an attorney's contravention. Section 78 identifies people who may apply, including the principal, an attorney, an executor or administrator of the principal's estate, the Public Advocate, the nearest relative and a person accepted by VCAT as having a special interest. An account of profits and time-limit issues are distinct and should be assessed separately. Urgent protective action and the final recovery claim may require different orders.

Evidence often determines the remedy: preserve the appointment and revocation documents, bank and property records, invoices, correspondence, capacity evidence and a chronology. Do not confront a suspected wrongdoer or move assets without advice where that could increase risk or compromise evidence.

Medical treatment planning is a separate system

A person with decision-making capacity can appoint one medical treatment decision maker at a time and alternatives in sequence. That person acts only when the patient lacks capacity for the particular medical treatment decision. They must identify the decision the patient would have made, using any valid advance care directive and the patient's known preferences and values. Read the medical treatment decision-maker guide for the appointment and decision process.

If no appointed medical treatment decision maker or guardian with relevant medical-treatment power is reasonably available, willing and able, section 55 proceeds to the first qualifying person who is in a close and continuing relationship with the adult and is reasonably available, willing and able: first the spouse or domestic partner, then the primary carer, then an adult child, a parent and an adult sibling. A domestic partner is a person in a registered relationship or an unregistered couple living together on a genuine domestic basis; co-tenancy alone is insufficient. The primary carer is the adult who is principally responsible for providing care and support, other than wholly or substantially for remuneration. If more than one person fits the applicable adult-child, parent or adult-sibling category, the oldest of those people is selected. The hierarchy does not apply while the person is a mental health patient.

An advance care directive may contain an instructional directive that directly consents to or refuses specified treatment, or a values directive that guides the decision maker. A medical support person can help the patient make, communicate and give effect to their own decisions but cannot decide for them unless separately appointed as medical treatment decision maker.

Some appointments made under earlier Victorian laws remain recognised, including specified pre-March 2018 medical appointments. Old terminology is not necessarily invalid, but the scope should be reviewed rather than assumed. The Office of the Public Advocate's medical treatment guidance explains the current system and recognised earlier appointments.

The Victorian Department of Health maintains the current forms and guidance for appointing a medical treatment decision maker, making an advance care directive and appointing a medical support person.

Using the documents in real life

Land and interstate documents

An attorney dealing with Victorian land may need to provide the power and identity or certification evidence required by the conveyancer and Land Registry Services. A conveyancing client authorisation permits a practitioner to lodge dealings; it is not itself a general power of attorney. Requirements can differ for older, interstate and remotely witnessed instruments, so check them before a settlement deadline. See Land Registry Services information.

An enduring power validly made in another Australian State or Territory is generally recognised in Victoria only to the extent that the authority could validly be given here. Banks, registries and institutions may seek further evidence. A person who has moved permanently should review whether new Victorian documents would be clearer in practice.

Companies, trusts and self-managed super funds

A power over personal financial matters does not automatically replace every office a person holds. Company constitutions, shareholder arrangements, trust deeds and superannuation law may control who can become a director, appointor, trustee or corporate-trustee decision maker. Coordinate the appointment with business succession planning and, where relevant, SMSF control and succession.

Digital access and document review

Make an inventory of important devices, accounts, subscriptions and digital assets, but do not give anyone passwords contrary to platform terms or security advice. The instrument's authority, privacy rules, service-provider terms and access controls may not align. Record where lawful access instructions are kept and obtain specific advice for valuable digital assets or business systems.

Review all appointments after death or incapacity of an appointee, relationship change, relocation, asset or business restructuring, diagnosis affecting future capacity, or difficulty having an institution accept the document. Old documents may remain legally effective under transitional rules, but a current instrument can be easier to understand and use.

Planning checklist

1. List the financial, personal, medical, business, trust, superannuation, land and digital decisions that may arise.
2. Choose eligible people for each role based on trust, skill, availability and conflicts—not family rank alone.
3. Decide whether multiple attorneys should act jointly, separately or by majority and appoint suitable alternatives.
4. Define the matters covered, commencement triggers, limits, safeguards, reporting and any lawful remuneration.
5. Use current Victorian forms and complete every signing, certification and acceptance step.
6. Coordinate the documents with the Will, advance care directive, company and trust controls, SMSF arrangements and asset records.
7. Store originals securely, give appropriate copies and tell appointees where the current documents are held.
8. Schedule reviews and act promptly if capacity, relationships, appointees, assets or law change.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and further guidance

• Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic)
• Powers of Attorney Regulations 2025 (Vic)
• Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety — powers of attorney and current forms
• Office of the Public Advocate — enduring powers of attorney
• Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic)
• Victorian Department of Health — advance care planning
• Victorian Department of Health — current medical treatment planning forms
• VCAT — guardians and administrators
• SERV — Land Registry Services frequently asked questions