Supportive Attorneys in Victoria: How the Appointment Works

What Is a Supportive Attorney?

A supportive attorney is a person appointed by an adult with decision-making capacity — the principal — to help the principal make and give effect to their own decisions. The supportive attorney does not make decisions for the principal. That is the single most important thing to understand about the role, and the feature that distinguishes it from every other appointment under the Act.

The appointment is made under Part 7 of the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic). The Victorian Law Reform Commission's report that led to the Act deliberately introduced supported decision-making as a legal category, giving third parties (banks, government agencies, aged care providers, health services and utilities) a formal instrument they can recognise when a customer is being helped by a trusted person rather than being spoken for by them.

What a Supportive Attorney Can Do

The Act confers three linked supportive powers. Within the scope nominated on the form (personal matters, financial matters or both), a supportive attorney can:

• Access, collect, use and disclose personal information relevant to a supported decision — for example, obtaining bank statements, superannuation information, Centrelink records or medical records at the principal's direction;
• Communicate the principal's decisions to third parties — the supportive attorney can speak with a bank teller, government officer, aged care coordinator or utility provider on behalf of the principal, provided the decision itself has been made by the principal;
• Take reasonable steps to give effect to the principal's decisions — for example, delivering paperwork, sitting in on meetings, or coordinating logistics.

What a Supportive Attorney Cannot Do

The limits on the role are as important as the powers. A supportive attorney cannot:

• Make a substitute decision — the supportive attorney has no authority to decide anything on the principal's behalf. If the principal has not actually made a decision, there is nothing for the supportive attorney to communicate or implement;
• Enter financial transactions above the modest threshold set in the Act and Regulations — the threshold is deliberately low so that any significant transaction requires either the principal's direct signature or an enduring power of attorney;
• Deal with special personal matters (such as marriage, dissolution of marriage or adoption) or special medical procedures (defined in the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic));
• Act at all once the principal no longer has decision-making capacity for the matter in question — this is the sharpest limit of all, and the principal reason why a supportive attorney is not a substitute for an enduring power of attorney.

Capacity: The Precondition for the Appointment

The supportive attorney model presupposes that the principal has decision-making capacity. Capacity in Victoria is decision-specific — a person may have capacity to make one decision but not another. To validly appoint a supportive attorney the principal must, in relation to the appointment, understand its nature and effect, understand the scope of powers being conferred, retain that information long enough to make the decision, weigh it in reaching a decision, and communicate the decision in some way.

Where the principal's capacity to make the day-to-day decisions being supported is genuinely in doubt, a supportive attorney appointment is the wrong instrument. In that case the correct choices are usually an enduring power of attorney (financial, personal or both), or — where an EPOA is not in place and cannot now be made — a VCAT application for a guardianship or administration order.

How the Appointment Is Made

The appointment must be on the prescribed Victorian supportive attorney form. The formal steps are:

1. The principal completes the form, nominating the supportive attorney (or attorneys), the scope of matters (personal, financial or both) and any conditions or limitations;
2. The principal signs in the presence of two adult witnesses, one of whom must be authorised to witness statutory declarations under the Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018 (Vic);
3. Each witness signs a certification confirming that the principal appeared to have decision-making capacity for the appointment and appeared to understand its nature and effect;
4. The supportive attorney signs a written acceptance of the role on the form, acknowledging the duties under the Act;
5. The original signed appointment is stored safely and copies are provided to any third parties who may need to recognise it (bank, super fund, government agencies, aged care provider).

Neither witness can be a supportive attorney under the appointment or a relative of a supportive attorney. Both witnesses must actually be present when the principal signs — remote or asynchronous witnessing is not available for supportive attorney appointments outside the temporary regimes that applied briefly during 2020–2022.

Personal Matters vs Financial Matters

The principal specifies which categories the supportive attorney covers. Personal matters include accommodation, day-to-day living arrangements, health-adjacent personal decisions, engagement with government agencies and similar life-administration decisions. Financial matters include banking, superannuation, tax, dealing with utilities and other property-related decisions.

The principal can appoint a supportive attorney for both categories, for one only, or can appoint different supportive attorneys for different categories. The form allows conditions or limitations — for example, restricting the supportive attorney's authority to a particular bank account or to a specific government agency.

How Third Parties Should Respond to the Appointment

A properly executed supportive attorney appointment is a recognised legal instrument in Victoria and third parties (banks, super funds, government agencies, aged care providers and health services) are expected to deal with the supportive attorney within the scope of the appointment. In practice this means allowing the supportive attorney to:

• obtain information about the principal's account, benefits or file;
• speak with the third party in the principal's presence or at the principal's specific direction;
• deliver or collect paperwork on behalf of the principal;
• communicate the principal's decision — for example, that the principal wishes to close an account, change a payment plan or switch an aged care provider.

The third party is not required to accept an instruction from the supportive attorney where the underlying decision has not been made by the principal, or where the principal appears to have lost capacity for that matter.

Duties of the Supportive Attorney

A supportive attorney owes a suite of statutory duties. They must act honestly, diligently and in good faith; exercise reasonable skill and care; recognise the principal's right to make decisions and communicate those decisions themselves; identify and manage any conflict of interest; keep supportive-attorney matters separate from their own affairs; and keep reasonable records of transactions and communications carried out under the appointment. The supportive attorney must not use the appointment for personal profit.

Revocation and Automatic Ending

The principal can revoke the appointment at any time while they retain decision-making capacity, using the prescribed revocation form and with the same witnessing formalities as the original appointment. The appointment also ends automatically on:

• the principal's death;
• the supportive attorney's death, resignation or loss of capacity;
• the principal's loss of decision-making capacity for the matter (the appointment does not carry over into incapacity);
• a VCAT order suspending or revoking the appointment; and
• any expiry or contingency provided for in the form itself.

Interaction With an Enduring Power of Attorney

A supportive attorney appointment and an enduring power of attorney can co-exist. In practice, many people appoint a supportive attorney to help while they retain capacity, and appoint an enduring attorney (often the same person) to take over if capacity is lost. Because the two appointments cover different circumstances they do not conflict, but the documents should be drafted together so scope, personnel, successive appointments and revocation triggers make coherent sense.

For a detailed treatment of the enduring power of attorney regime — including the most common drafting mistakes — see our companion articles on powers of attorney in Victoria and common EPOA mistakes.

Interaction With Medical Treatment Decision Makers

Medical treatment decision-making in Victoria is a self-contained regime under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic). A supportive attorney has no authority to consent to medical treatment on behalf of the principal — even where the appointment covers personal matters. Where the principal wants a substitute decision-maker for medical treatment, they must appoint a medical treatment decision maker under that Act.

When VCAT Can Intervene

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has jurisdiction under the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic) to review, suspend or revoke a supportive attorney appointment where the supportive attorney has failed to comply with their duties, has an unmanaged conflict of interest, has caused loss to the principal, is not respecting the principal's will and preferences, or is otherwise not acting appropriately. Applications can be made by the principal, a family member, the Public Advocate or another person with a genuine interest. For more on the VCAT process see our guide on guardianship and administration applications at VCAT.

Warning Signs of Abuse or Misuse

Because the supportive attorney has access to the principal's information and is often trusted to communicate decisions to third parties, the appointment is exposed to the same elder-abuse dynamics as an enduring power of attorney. Warning signs include third parties reporting that the supportive attorney is presenting decisions the principal has never actually made, unexplained changes to accounts or benefits, isolation of the principal from other family, resistance to family enquiries, and unexplained benefit flowing to the supportive attorney or their relatives. Family members concerned about misuse should seek legal advice quickly; both police and VCAT have roles, and evidence deteriorates rapidly. See our related article on attorney abuse in Victoria.

Common Drafting Mistakes

Common mistakes we see include: using a generic template rather than the prescribed Victorian form; using an interstate form (supportive attorney appointments do not exist in identical form in every state); failing to observe the two-witness requirement; using a family member of the supportive attorney as a witness; failing to record the supportive attorney's written acceptance; conferring unrestricted 'financial matters' authority where the principal actually wanted a narrow scope; and failing to copy relevant third parties. The correct form and correct witnessing take an hour with a lawyer; unwinding a defective appointment through VCAT can take months.

How Parke Lawyers Can Help

Parke Lawyers advises Victorians on the complete decision-making toolkit — Wills, enduring powers of attorney (financial and personal), medical treatment decision maker appointments, supportive attorney appointments and, where required, VCAT applications for guardianship, administration or review of an existing appointment. We draft, witness and store the documents, advise family members and appointed persons about their duties, and act quickly where a supportive attorney or enduring attorney has misused their role. Our wills and estate planning team also coordinates with our estate-litigation team where a dispute over an appointment has already crystallised.

Frequently Asked Questions