Since the Power of Attorney is a legal document it should always be stored in a safe place. In addition, copies should be given to the person you have appointed as attorney. If the appointed attorney is going to deal with real estate in NSW on your behalf, the document should be registered with the Land and Property Information Division of the NSW Department of Lands. This is the only requirement for the document to be registered. When and if you revoke the Power of Attorney document, the cancellation should also be registered.
Why witnesses are needed
When you create a Power of Attorney there has to be witnesses that sign the document. These witnesses are meant to ensure that you understand what you are doing and believe that the person you appoint is capable of acting in your best interests. This prevents older people being manipulated into giving unscrupulous family members legal right to administer their estate to their own benefit.
Where to keep it safely
The Power of Attorney document can be kept safely with your lawyer, in a bank safety deposit box. If you made the Document with the NSW Trustee and Guardian organisation is can be stored in their Will Safe for free. You can also access this Safe for all and any of your legal documents without being a client by paying a one-off fee.
How do you cancel it?
Power of Attorney can be a great tool to allow anyone who may be frail physically but not mentally to conduct their business the way they want to. But like many legal offices it can be abused by unscrupulous people or those who simply could not resist the chance to benefit by it without any knowledge of the person who granted it.
There are many reasons apart from illegal dealings why you might want to revoke or cancel your Power of Attorney. Circumstances change and you might feel the person you appointed is no longer suitable for the job, for whatever reason.
When you cancel, you will need to let all the relevant parties know so the attorney cannot keep doing deals on your behalf. Relevant businesses you have been dealing with and your bank are the main ones who should know – and the attorney as well, of course.
Once this has been done, the original document should be destroyed and so should all the copies, especially the one held by the attorney. If the document was registered as mentioned above, the revocation should also be registered with the same organisation.
It is possible to create a new Power of Attorney if required, but only after all this has been done, otherwise confusion can result, with no one knowing exactly which Power of Attorney is the valid one.