Do You Need a Lawyer for Power of Attorney in New Brunswick?

The Short Answer: It Depends on Which EPA

New Brunswick's Enduring Powers of Attorney Act draws a hard line between the two types of EPA. If property or financial authority is involved, a lawyer is mandatory. If the document covers only personal care decisions, you can execute it without one.

This distinction catches families off guard — especially those who've read about DIY power of attorney options in provinces like Ontario or British Columbia, where self-execution is allowed for all types. New Brunswick is stricter because the province treats financial authority as a higher-risk delegation that requires professional oversight.

When a Lawyer Is Required

Any EPA that grants authority over property, finances, bank accounts, investments, or real estate must be signed in the physical or virtual presence of a practicing lawyer who is a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick. The lawyer's role goes beyond witnessing — they must:

• Review the terms and provisions of the EPA with the grantor
• Witness the grantor's signature
• Sign a formal certificate confirming the grantor appeared to understand the document and had the mental capacity to execute it

This applies to standalone Property EPAs and to combined documents that include both property and personal care powers. The lawyer requirement for the property portion elevates the execution standard for the entire document.

Remote witnessing is permitted. Since December 2022, New Brunswick permanently allows EPAs to be executed via live audiovisual communication, as long as at least one witness is a practicing lawyer. The grantor and lawyer sign identical counterpart copies, and the document must include a statement confirming electronic execution under Section 4.1 of the Act.

When You Can Skip the Lawyer

A standalone Personal Care EPA — one that covers only healthcare, living arrangements, and personal welfare decisions, with no financial authority — can be executed before two independent adult witnesses. The witnesses must be at least 19, must not be named as attorneys in the document, and cannot be the spouse or child of a named attorney.

This means a family can set up personal care coverage at the kitchen table with two neighbours as witnesses. No lawyer fees, no appointment, no certificates.

However, most families need both property and personal care authority. If you're combining them into one document (which is standard practice), the lawyer requirement applies to the whole thing.

What a Lawyer Charges

Typical lawyer fees for drafting and executing a power of attorney in New Brunswick:

• Simple Property EPA: $500 to $1,500+
• Combined Property + Personal Care EPA: $500 to $1,500+ (most lawyers don't charge significantly more for the combined document)
• Complex situations (blended families, multiple properties, business interests, cross-border assets): $500 to $1,000+
• Standalone Personal Care EPA (if using a lawyer by choice): $150 to $300

These fees cover the drafting, the in-office or virtual execution meeting, and the lawyer's capacity certificate. They do not cover additional steps like registering the EPA at the Land Registry ($85 per parcel if the attorney will manage real estate) or filing SDMRA court applications if capacity is already lost.

How to Minimize the Cost

The single most effective way to reduce lawyer fees is preparation. Every minute the lawyer spends asking questions about your assets, your family structure, and your preferences is a billable minute that could have been avoided.

Before the appointment, prepare:

• A complete asset inventory (bank accounts, investments, real estate with PIDs, vehicles)
• A liabilities list (mortgages, credit cards, loans)
• Income sources (CPP, OAS, pensions, rental income)
• The full legal names and dates of birth of all proposed attorneys and monitors
• Your preferences on immediate versus springing activation
• Whether multiple attorneys should act jointly or independently

Walking in with this organized turns what would be a two-hour consultation into a 30-to-45-minute execution meeting. At $300 to $500 per hour, that preparation saves real money.

The New Brunswick Power of Attorney Kit includes intake worksheets designed specifically for this purpose — organizing your information so the mandatory lawyer meeting is as fast and inexpensive as possible.

The Cost of Not Having a Lawyer (When Required)

A Property EPA executed without a lawyer is invalid in New Brunswick. If a family discovers this gap after the grantor has lost capacity, the options are expensive: a Tier 2 or Tier 3 court application under the Supported Decision-Making and Representation Act, with a $125 Court of King's Bench filing fee, a capacity assessment costing $500 to $2,500, and potential legal representation fees that can exceed $10,000 if the application is contested.

The $500 to $1,500+ for proper EPA execution is a fraction of the emergency court pathway cost. For families on a tight budget, separating the documents — doing the Personal Care EPA at home with witnesses and paying a lawyer only for the Property EPA — is a practical middle ground that ensures both types of authority are in place.

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