General Power Of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is a legal document whereby a person (called the Donor) gives authority to another person or persons (called the Attorney(s)) to act on their behalf and to make decisions with regard to their financial affairs and/or their personal welfare.

When to use a Power of Attorney
An Ordinary Power of Attorney is usually created in circumstances where the Donor wishes someone else to act on their behalf whilst they are either away on holiday or out of the country, alternatively where they are unable to act for some other reason. An Ordinary Power of Attorney cannot be used in cases where the Donor has lost their mental capacity and will automatically terminate on loss of capacity. A Lasting Power of Attorney is used in these circumstances. However, it must be created before the incapacity arises.

What decisions can be made on the Donor's behalf?
An Ordinary Power of Attorney may be either general or limited to specific affairs. A General Power of Attorney in terms of Section 10 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 gives the Attorney(s) an almost unlimited power over the Donor's affairs and should therefore be used with great caution. It cannot be used in respect of any jointly owned property, any functions acting as trustee, personal representative or a tenant for life under the Settled Land Act 1925.

The Donor may appoint more than one Attorney to act on his behalf. These Attorneys can either act independently of each other (i.e. joint and several) or they can act together (i.e. joint). Where the authority is joint and several, any of the Attorneys can sign any authority documentation on behalf of the Donor individually, whereas if the authority is joint, every one of the Attorneys must sign the authority documentation.

The Ordinary Power of Attorney need not be registered and will usually terminate either on a specified date or where the Donor expressly revokes the Power of Attorney by executing a Deed of Revocation.