Key takeaways
- Your spouse or partner cannot just decide for you. If you lose capacity without an enduring power of attorney, nobody can act on your affairs until the Family Court appoints someone, which commonly takes four to eight months.
- There are two separate documents, a property EPA for money and assets, and a personal care and welfare EPA for health and living decisions. Most people need both.
- Your signature must be witnessed by a lawyer, a qualified legal executive or a trustee company officer, who must explain the document and certify you were not pressured. Online witnessing is no longer allowed.
- Expect roughly $300 to $500 per document at a lawyer, less as a package with a will. The prescribed forms themselves are free.
- An EPA ends at death, your will and executor take over from there.
In this guide
The most dangerous myth in New Zealand family life is that if something happens to you, your husband, wife or partner can simply step in and handle things. They cannot. Without an enduring power of attorney, not even your spouse can access your accounts, sell the house to fund your care, or make your medical decisions. Public Trust research puts EPAs in the hands of only about 17 per cent of New Zealanders, and only 38 per cent of over-65s, while Alzheimers New Zealand expects dementia numbers to almost triple to around 170,000 by 2050. This guide covers the two documents, the real costs, and what the Family Court alternative looks like when there is no EPA.
What an enduring power of attorney is
An enduring power of attorney, or EPA, is a legal document in which you, the donor, appoint someone you trust, your attorney, to make decisions for you. The word enduring is the point. An ordinary power of attorney dies the moment you lose mental capacity, exactly when you need it most. An enduring one survives, under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988, and keeps your affairs in the hands of someone you chose rather than someone a court chooses later.
The two types
| Property EPA | Personal care and welfare EPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Money, bank accounts, the house, investments, bills | Health care, where you live, day-to-day welfare |
| How many attorneys | One or more, and a trustee company can act | One individual only, with successors allowed |
| When it operates | Your choice, immediately or only if you lose capacity | Only if you lose capacity |
| Big decisions need | Whatever conditions you set | A health practitioner’s certificate for significant matters |
They are separate documents and you can appoint different people. A common arrangement is a financially organised child or professional for property, and the family member who knows your wishes best for welfare. Most people should do both at the same time, usually alongside a will.
What happens without one
If you lose capacity with no EPA, everything freezes. The bank will not talk to your partner about accounts in your sole name, the house cannot be sold to fund care, and no one has legal authority over your medical decisions beyond immediately necessary treatment.
The fix is a family member applying to the Family Court under the PPPR Act for a welfare guardian order, a property manager order, or both. The court appoints a lawyer to represent the person who has lost capacity, decisions commonly take four to eight months, welfare guardian orders are reviewed every three years, and the whole process plays out while your family is already dealing with a health crisis. It also happens in public, before a judge, instead of privately on your terms. This is the situation an afternoon of paperwork exists to prevent, and it matters doubly when a family is simultaneously navigating rest home care and the subsidy, where someone needs authority to act quickly.
What your attorney cannot do
Handing someone power over your life sounds frightening, so it is worth knowing the hard statutory limits. A personal care and welfare attorney can never:
- make decisions about you marrying, entering a civil union, or ending your marriage or civil union by dissolution
- make decisions about adopting out your children
- refuse consent to standard medical treatment intended to save your life or prevent serious harm to your health
- consent to electro-convulsive treatment, or to brain surgery or treatment designed to destroy brain function in order to change your behaviour
- consent to your taking part in medical experiments, except where it may save your life or prevent serious damage to your health
- request assisted dying on your behalf under the End of Life Choice Act 2019.
Those limits sit in sections 98(4) and 18(1) of the Act, and the assisted dying bar is one most guides have not caught up with.
Property attorneys are boxed in too. While you lack capacity they cannot use your money to benefit themselves or anyone else, beyond narrow exceptions like property owned jointly with a spouse or partner they live with, their own out-of-pocket expenses and professional fees. They must consult you as far as practicable, consult anyone your EPA names, provide information to people you nominate when asked, and keep records of every transaction, and failing to keep those records without reasonable excuse is an offence with a fine of up to $1,000. These duties are the everyday protection against the elder financial abuse that worries families most.
Who to choose and the safeguards
An attorney must be at least 20, not bankrupt, and not themselves subject to a court order about their capacity. Beyond the legal minimums, choose for reliability under pressure rather than seniority, and name successor attorneys in case your first choice dies or cannot act. For welfare, the law allows only one attorney at a time, an individual, never a company. For property you can appoint more than one, and a trustee company such as Public Trust can act, which also means Public Trust can be your property attorney but never your welfare attorney.
You can build in oversight, require your attorney to consult a named person, or to hand over financial information to your other children on request, and those conditions have teeth because the duties above attach to them.
The witnessing rules are the final safeguard. Your signature must be witnessed by a lawyer, a qualified legal executive or an authorised officer of a trustee company, who must be independent of your attorney, explain what the document does, and certify you signed free of pressure. Your attorney signs too, before a different witness. It is deliberately hard to do casually, because the document is powerful.
How to set up an enduring power of attorney and what it costs
The forms are prescribed by regulation and free, the Office for Seniors publishes them with plain-English guidance at superseniors.msd.govt.nz. What you pay for is the required legal witnessing and advice. As at July 2025, MoneyHub puts typical lawyer charges at roughly $300 to $500 per EPA, with better rates when you do both EPAs and a will as a package. Public Trust offers EPAs with an initial consultation and charges beyond it at hourly rates published on its pricing page. Shop around, prices genuinely vary, and ask for the package price first.
One 2020s footnote, the COVID-era rule that allowed EPAs to be witnessed by video call expired with the epidemic notice. Witnessing is back to in person, though EPAs validly signed under the temporary rule remain valid.
When it starts and how it ends
A property EPA starts whenever you said it should, immediately, which suits couples who want help with the admin straight away, or only on incapacity. A welfare EPA only ever operates once you cannot decide for yourself, and the law grades how that is proven. For significant matters, a permanent change of residence, entering residential care, a major medical procedure, your attorney needs a certificate from a relevant health practitioner, or a court determination, that you lack capacity. For everyday welfare decisions, the attorney can act on a reasonable belief that you cannot decide. If a practitioner certifies your condition will not improve, that certificate carries forward and does not need renewing.
You stay in charge for as long as you are capable. You can revoke an EPA at any time while you have capacity, suspend an attorney’s authority if you recover, and you can name the type of specialist you want doing any capacity assessment. If family members believe an attorney is misusing the role, anyone with a proper interest can ask the Family Court to review the attorney’s decisions, and the court can give directions or revoke the appointment.
Every EPA ends at death. From that moment your will governs, and your executor takes over, which is why the two documents are drafted as a pair.
The law is being reviewed
The Law Commission has recommended replacing this entire area of law. Its review of adult decision-making capacity law went to the Minister on 29 January 2026 and was presented to Parliament on 24 February 2026, with 175 recommendations including repealing the PPPR Act in favour of a modern regime. As at early July 2026 the Government has not responded, and nothing has changed, EPAs made today are valid and will almost certainly be preserved under any new law. Do not wait for the reform to make one.
Common questions
Does my spouse automatically have power of attorney
No. Marriage and de facto relationships confer no authority over your property or medical decisions if you lose capacity. Without an EPA your spouse must apply to the Family Court like anyone else and wait months for orders.
How much does an enduring power of attorney cost
Roughly $300 to $500 per document at a lawyer as at mid-2025 according to MoneyHub, often less per document as a bundle with a will. The forms themselves are free, the cost is the compulsory legal witnessing and advice.
Can I have more than one attorney
For property, yes, jointly or severally, and a trustee company can act. For personal care and welfare, only one attorney at a time, though you can and should name successors.
Can my attorney sell my house
A property attorney can, if the EPA covers your property generally and the sale is in your interests, for example to fund care. What they cannot do is benefit themselves from the proceeds, and they must keep full records and consult as your EPA requires.
Can an enduring power of attorney be witnessed online
Not any more. The COVID-era modification that allowed audio-visual witnessing expired with the epidemic notice, so signing is back to in person before the required witness. EPAs validly witnessed remotely during that window remain valid.
Can I cancel an enduring power of attorney
Yes, at any time while you have capacity, by written notice to the attorney. You can also replace an EPA with a new one, and the Family Court can revoke an attorney’s appointment if they are not acting in your interests.
Where to get free help
- Office for Seniors, superseniors.msd.govt.nz, the free prescribed forms and plain-English guides.
- Community Law, communitylaw.org.nz, free legal help, including if you cannot afford a lawyer for witnessing.
- Age Concern, ageconcern.org.nz, local support and elder abuse prevention services.
- Citizens Advice Bureau, 0800 367 222, cab.org.nz, plain-English help getting started.
An EPA is one of three documents worth sorting in the same season of life. Our guides to making a will and relationship property cover the other two.
Have you set up enduring powers of attorney, or been through the Family Court process without one? What did it cost and how long did it take? Share your experience in the comments.
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