Capacity Assessment in Alberta: Who Does Them, What They Cost, and When You Need One

A parent signs an enduring power of attorney six months before a dementia diagnosis. A doctor asks whether your father can still make his own treatment decisions. A lawyer tells you a trusteeship application needs a formal capacity assessment report. "Capacity" is the hinge everything in Alberta's substitute decision-making system swings on — but families routinely get tripped up because who assesses capacity, and how, depends entirely on which legal process you're in.

Alberta has no single "capacity test." The assessment that activates a personal directive is different from the one a court requires for guardianship, and both are different from the judgment call a lawyer makes when witnessing a signature.

When a Capacity Assessment Is Required

There are four common triggers:

1. Activating a personal directive. A personal directive only takes effect when the maker loses capacity. The directive itself can name who decides — often two specific people, or two service providers. If it's silent, the default under the Personal Directives Act is a written determination by two service providers, at least one of whom is a physician or psychologist.
2. A guardianship or trusteeship application. When no planning documents exist (or they don't cover the situation), the court process under the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act requires a formal capacity assessment report filed with the application.
3. Contested documents. If someone challenges whether the donor understood an enduring power of attorney when they signed it, capacity at the time of signing becomes the central question — sometimes assessed retroactively from medical records.
4. Institutional caution. Banks, investment firms, and care facilities sometimes ask for a physician's letter confirming incapacity (to trigger a springing power of attorney) or capacity (to accept a new document) before they'll act.

The Formal AGTA Capacity Assessment

For court applications, Alberta uses a standardized capacity assessment report — commonly referred to by its form number in the application package. The rules that matter:

• Who can perform it. Only designated capacity assessors: physicians and psychologists authorized under the regulation. Your family doctor can often do it; if not, the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee maintains resources for finding an assessor.
• What it costs. Assessments are privately billed and not covered by Alberta Health Care. Expect roughly $500 to $700 for the report, on top of the court filing fee (around $300) if you're proceeding with a guardianship or trusteeship application.
• What it evaluates. Not general intelligence or memory in isolation — the assessor evaluates whether the adult can understand information relevant to a decision and appreciate the consequences of making (or not making) it. It's decision-specific: an adult can lack capacity for complex financial decisions while retaining it for personal ones, which is why the court can grant a guardianship order without a trusteeship order, or vice versa.
• How current it must be. Courts expect a recent assessment. An old report from years ago won't support a new application.

If a parent still has capacity now, a planning session beats a court application every time — an enduring power of attorney and personal directive signed while capacity is intact cost far less than the assessment-plus-court route. The Alberta Power of Attorney Kit walks through getting those documents executed properly, including the witnessing rules that keep them challenge-proof.

Capacity Determinations Under a Personal Directive

The personal directive route is deliberately lighter than the court route — no designated assessor required, no $500 report:

• If the maker named assessors in the directive (a common choice: "my family doctor and my daughter"), those people make the determination.
• Otherwise, the statutory default applies: written opinions from two service providers, one a physician or psychologist.
• The determination should be documented in writing. Hospitals and care homes will ask for it before letting the agent make decisions.

One practical tip: if you're drafting a personal directive now, naming your own assessors in the document avoids arguments later about who counts as a "service provider" and whether the right people were consulted.

What Happens If Capacity Is Gone and Nothing Was Signed

This is the scenario capacity assessments are built for — and it's expensive. With no enduring power of attorney and no personal directive, nobody has automatic authority, not even a spouse. The family must apply under the AGTA for:

• Guardianship (personal/healthcare decisions), and/or
• Trusteeship (financial decisions)

Both require the capacity assessment report, court filing, notice to family members, and — once appointed — ongoing reporting duties to the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, including annual accounting for trustees. Total out-of-pocket costs typically run into the low thousands before legal fees, and the process takes months. If no suitable family member exists, the Public Guardian or Public Trustee can be appointed directly.

The Cheapest Capacity Assessment Is the One You Never Need

Every formal assessment in this article exists because planning documents weren't signed in time. An enduring power of attorney and personal directive executed while capacity is clear — with proper witnesses and the correct enduring clause — keep your family out of the assessment-and-court track entirely. If your parent is still capable today, that's the window. The Alberta Power of Attorney Kit has the execution checklists and step-by-step instructions to get it done before a capacity assessment becomes necessary.

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