Who Will Decide For You If You Can Not Decide For Yourself?

Living busy lifestyles causes us to put “ think about planning ahead “on the back burner.

We take it for granted that we can make our own decisions about a range of issues, large and small that affect our lives. For more complex decisions we may seek advice from others but decide ourselves whether or not to follow that advice.

The important factors in this matter are:

CAPACITY

Capacity means that when making a decision you have the ability to: 

• Understand the facts involved
• Understand the main choices
• Weigh up the consequences of the choices
• Understand how the consequences affect you
• Communicate your decision

You must have capacity to make decisions about:

• Making a Will
• Buying or selling a property
• Taking out a loan
• Investing money
• Making a Power of Attorney
• Making an Enduring Power of Attorney
• Entering into a Contract

The law presumes adults have the capacity to make their own decisions until proven otherwise. However, if you do not have the capacity to make these decisions they will not be legally binding.

The capacity to make decisions can be affected by illness, injury or age. This loss of ability to make decisions may be total or partial. We may lose capacity to make any kind of decision or we may lose capacity to make more complex decisions. The loss of capacity may be temporary or permanent.

WHO WILL MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU?

Have you thought of who will make your decisions for you if you do lose capacity? You can decide in advance who you would like to make decisions for you if you can no longer do so.

If you do not plan ahead and you lose capacity it will be too late to choose who you want to be the decision maker. Those who you love will need to approach the Guardianship Tribunal to be appointed your guardian.

THE TWO CATEGORIES OF DECISIONS

The law divides decisions into:

Financial decisions – which can cover dealing with bank accounts, transferring of money, paying bills, dealing with shares and buying and selling real estate.

Lifestyle decisions – these can be about where you live, what services you should receive, what medical and dental treatment you might need.

HOW CAN YOU PLAN AHEAD?

In NSW there are two special documents you can use:

• A General Power of Attorney
• An Enduring Power of Attorney

At MBBF we help people to understand the significance of these documents and assist them with their preparation. Making sure that your family members and yourself are prepared in the event of a loss of capacity.