Immediate vs Dormant EPA in WA: Which Type to Choose

Two Ways an EPA Can Start Working

Under Section 104(1)(b) of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990, every EPA in Western Australia must specify when the attorney's powers begin. You have two options:

Immediate EPA. Powers begin once the EPA is fully completed, including the attorney's required acceptance of appointment. The attorney can manage your bank accounts and sign contracts right away; land transactions still require Landgate registration where applicable. The attorney continues to hold those powers if you later lose capacity.

Dormant EPA (sometimes called a "springing" EPA). Powers sit inactive until the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) makes a formal declaration that you've lost decision-making capacity. Until that declaration, the attorney has no authority to act.

This is a choice you make when filling in the form. You can't change it later without executing an entirely new EPA.

Why Most People Choose Immediate

The immediate EPA is the more common choice, and for practical reasons:

It handles routine situations. If you're hospitalised, travelling overseas, or temporarily unable to get to a bank branch, your attorney can manage bills, handle mail, and keep things running. A dormant EPA provides no authority for any of these scenarios — it only activates on formal incapacity.

There's no SAT bottleneck. Activating a dormant EPA requires a formal hearing at the SAT, which takes approximately eight weeks under Practice Note 9. If your parent has a sudden stroke and their bank accounts need urgent attention, waiting eight weeks for the EPA to activate defeats the purpose.

Banks understand it more easily. Financial institutions regularly deal with immediate EPAs. A dormant EPA that hasn't been activated by the SAT will be refused at the counter — the bank correctly recognises that the attorney has no current authority.

The main concern with an immediate EPA is trust: you're giving someone authority over your finances right now, not just as a backup. If you're comfortable with the person you've appointed, an immediate EPA provides far more practical flexibility.

When a Dormant EPA Makes Sense

A dormant EPA is appropriate when:

• You want the safety net of an EPA in place but don't trust the attorney to have immediate access to your finances
• The EPA is being set up as part of a broader family arrangement where powers should only be exercised in a genuine crisis
• You're appointing someone who may face a conflict of interest (e.g., a business partner) and want a formal gate before they can act

The trade-off is the SAT activation process. In an emergency, the attorney would need to file a SAT application, wait for a hearing, and obtain the formal declaration — during which time bank accounts remain frozen and no financial transactions can occur on your behalf.

Activating a Dormant EPA

If the donor loses capacity and the EPA is dormant, the attorney must:

1. File an application with the SAT through the eCourts Portal
2. Submit a Cognitive Capacity Medical Report from a registered medical practitioner
3. Submit a Service Provider Report covering the donor's care and social circumstances
4. Attend a SAT hearing

The SAT doesn't charge application or hearing fees for these matters. But the process takes roughly eight weeks from application to declaration, and during that time the attorney cannot exercise any powers under the EPA.

For urgent situations, the attorney can request an interim order from the SAT, which can be issued within 24–48 hours. This provides temporary authority while the full application is processed.

Can You Switch from Dormant to Immediate?

Not on the existing document. You'd need to:

1. Execute a new EPA specifying "immediate" powers
2. Revoke the old dormant EPA
3. Register the new EPA with Landgate (if property is involved) and de-register the old one

Both the new execution and the revocation require the donor to have full legal capacity. If the donor has already lost capacity, you're locked into the dormant EPA — and activating it means going through the SAT.

A Practical Middle Ground

An immediate EPA gives the attorney authority from the time the document is fully completed. If you want authority to begin only after loss of capacity, select the dormant option on the official form. If you want an immediate EPA with restrictions on particular transactions, check the wording against the official form and Landgate requirements before signing.

For a detailed comparison of both EPA types and guidance on adding practical restrictions, the Western Australia Power of Attorney Kit covers each option alongside the form completion process.

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