Enduring Power of Attorney Victoria Short Form vs Long Form

Two Forms, One Framework

Victoria provides two official EPA form templates through the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA), both updated under the Powers of Attorney Regulations 2025 (Vic):

• Short Form — appoint up to 2 attorneys and up to 2 alternative attorneys
• Long Form — appoint up to 4 attorneys and up to 3 alternative attorneys

Both forms operate under exactly the same legislation, the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic). They carry the same legal weight, follow the same witnessing requirements, and are equally valid in the eyes of banks, hospitals, and government registries. The difference is structural — how many attorneys you can name and how their authority can be divided.

When the Short Form Works

The Short Form is the right choice for most families with straightforward arrangements. If you're appointing one or two trusted people — typically a spouse and an adult child, or two adult children — the Short Form handles it cleanly.

Common Short Form configurations:

• One attorney with one alternative (backup) if the primary can't or won't act
• Two attorneys acting jointly (both must agree on every decision), severally (either can act alone), or jointly and severally (a flexible hybrid)

The Short Form is simpler to fill out and less prone to administrative errors. Banks tend to process it faster because the appointment structure is straightforward. If you're appointing a spouse as sole attorney with your eldest child as the alternative, this is your form.

When You Need the Long Form

The Long Form exists for more complex family arrangements. You'd use it when:

• You want three or four attorneys — common in blended families where you want children from different relationships to share authority, or when you want professional and family attorneys working alongside each other
• You need majority decision-making — with three or more attorneys, you can specify that decisions require a majority vote rather than unanimity. This prevents deadlock if two attorneys disagree.
• You want to separate financial and personal matters across different people — the Long Form gives more space for conditions and limitations on each attorney's scope
• You need a deeper backup chain — with up to three alternative attorneys, the Long Form provides more continuity if multiple primary attorneys become unavailable

The Long Form takes more effort to complete correctly and creates a more complex governance structure. Each attorney still needs to sign a Statement of Acceptance, and institutions will need to verify the appointment terms before granting access.

Jointly, Severally, or Majority: Choosing the Right Structure

This decision matters more than most people realise, especially when dealing with banks.

Jointly — all appointed attorneys must agree on every decision and sign every document together. This provides maximum oversight but creates a practical bottleneck. If one attorney is unavailable (travelling, ill, or simply unreachable), nothing can happen. Ubank and some other digital banks will reject "jointly only" appointments for online transaction accounts because their platforms can't support dual-authorisation structures.

Severally — any individual attorney can act alone. This is the most practical arrangement for day-to-day financial management — one attorney can go to the bank without needing the other's signature. The trade-off is less oversight.

Jointly and severally — attorneys can act together or independently. This gives maximum flexibility. Some families combine this with specific conditions: major decisions (like property sales) require all attorneys to agree, while routine decisions (like paying bills) can be handled by any one attorney alone.

Majority (Long Form only) — with three or four attorneys, decisions can be made by majority vote. This prevents a single dissenting attorney from blocking necessary actions while maintaining a check on any individual.

Practical Tips for Either Form

Regardless of which form you choose:

1. Name alternative attorneys — if your primary attorney dies, loses capacity, or resigns, an alternative can step in without the need for a VCAT application
2. Get the Statement of Acceptance signed — the EPA doesn't become active for any attorney until they've signed this. It's a separate signature from the main document, and missing it is one of the most common invalidation errors
3. Think about banking before you decide on joint vs several — call your bank and ask how they handle multi-attorney EPA arrangements. This can save months of frustration later.
4. Use certified copies — Victoria has no central EPA registry, so you'll need to distribute certified copies to every relevant institution. Make extras.

The Victoria Power of Attorney Kit includes guidance on choosing between the Short and Long Forms based on your family structure, with a decision matrix that maps common scenarios to the right form and appointment configuration.

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