Guardianship:When a person is unable to handle his affairs himself, whether due to injury, disease, effects of age, and in the absence of Ongoing Power of Attorney (about this, see in a separate chapter), the appointment of a guardian is required for him. The guardian is appointed by the family court, usually at the request of family members. The Administrator General in the Ministry of Justice is responsible for supervising the guardians and their actions.
An Ongoing Power of Attorney can help by making the need to appoint a guardian redundant.
A person who has made an Ongoing Power of Attorney may eliminate the need to appoint a guardian.
Ongoing Power of Attorney
“Ongoing Power of Attorney” is a relatively new legal tool, which came into force several years ago and allows a person to instruct in advance that once he finds it difficult to manage his life and affairs himself, they will be managed by someone else, and all by dividing it all into topics and under the conditions of his choice.
The great advantage of using an Ongoing Power of Attorney is the possibility of a person (the appointing person), to choose in advance who will handle his affairs in the future. The appointing person may select one legal representative (or more), to manage his health and/or economic and/or personal affairs, all in the event he loses his physical or mental capacity to handle his own affairs and will be in a condition where he is unable to make decisions or perform actions by himself.
The power of attorney will come into force only after it will be determined by a competent authority that the person is unfit (“Incompetent”), or subject to another determination made in advance by the appointing person.
From our clients’ responses and experience gained in the field, we learn that using this tool, which enables a person to control and pre-select his choices and people he trusts to manage his affairs when needed, aids in his peace of mind as well as that of the rest of the family members and legal representatives. Moreover, the Ongoing Power of Attorney is also useful in avoiding the complex, relatively costly and lengthy process of appointing a guardian.
Important to know: As long as the appointing person is competent – he can change the power of attorney as many times as he likes.
Only attorneys who have been trained and certified on behalf of the Administrator General are allowed to draft an Ongoing Power of Attorney.
Our firm as several certified attorneys who specialize in drafting an Ongoing Power of Attorney, while adapting the power of attorney to the person’s personal circumstances.
You can address us with any question about these issues.
