Jointly vs Severally Power of Attorney Victoria: Which Structure to Choose

The Three Appointment Structures

When you appoint more than one attorney under a Victorian enduring power of attorney (EPA), you need to specify how they'll work together. The Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic) gives you three options, and each one creates a fundamentally different dynamic:

Jointly: Both attorneys must agree on every decision. Neither can act alone. If one attorney dies, loses capacity, or resigns, the entire EPA fails unless you've named an alternative attorney.

Severally: Each attorney can act independently, without consulting the other. Either one can sign documents, access accounts, and make decisions on their own.

Jointly and severally: Attorneys can act together or independently. They have the flexibility to split tasks but can also make joint decisions on larger matters.

The choice isn't purely theoretical. It determines whether your bank will let one of your children access your accounts in an emergency, or whether both need to physically present themselves at the branch together.

Why Banks Care About This

This is where theory collides with practice. Major Australian banks conduct thorough legal audits before activating an attorney's access to accounts, and the appointment structure is one of the first things they check.

Joint-only appointments create real friction in digital banking. Ubank, for example, explicitly rejects EPA appointments where attorneys are named "jointly only" for digital transaction accounts. Their online platform can't support the dual-authorisation workflow that joint appointments require. Other banks may not reject them outright, but the practical reality is similar — every transaction needs both attorneys to sign, which means two people need to coordinate for every bill payment, direct debit, and transfer.

If one of your joint attorneys is overseas, unwell, or simply hard to reach, the account effectively freezes.

Several and joint-and-several appointments are generally easier for banks to process. One attorney can walk into a branch, present the certified EPA, and transact immediately. But some institutions will still want to verify that the acting attorney has authority under the specific terms of the document.

How to Choose the Right Structure

There's no single right answer — it depends on your family dynamics, the complexity of your finances, and how much trust you place in each attorney.

Choose jointly when:

• You want a built-in safeguard against one attorney acting without the other's knowledge
• Your attorneys are both locally available and have a strong working relationship
• The risk of disagreement between them is low
• You're primarily concerned about preventing unilateral decisions on major assets

Choose severally when:

• You want maximum flexibility and speed of action
• Your attorneys live in different locations or have different schedules
• You trust each person to act in your best interests independently
• Efficiency matters more than dual oversight (e.g., paying bills, managing day-to-day expenses)

Choose jointly and severally when:

• You want the best of both worlds — routine decisions handled by either attorney, major decisions discussed together
• Your attorneys are generally aligned but you want the option for one to act alone if the other is unavailable
• You can specify in the EPA which categories of decisions require joint action (e.g., property sales require both; bill payments can be handled by either)

The Deadlock Problem

Joint appointments carry a specific risk that families often don't anticipate: deadlock. If your two jointly appointed attorneys disagree on a financial or personal decision — how much to spend on aged care, whether to sell the family home, which medical facility to use — neither can act.

Under the Powers of Attorney Act 2014, when co-attorneys can't agree, any person with a "special interest" (including family members, the Public Advocate, or a co-attorney) can apply to VCAT for an order to resolve the dispute. That process takes months, costs money, and puts your affairs in limbo while it plays out.

The practical safeguard: if you choose a joint appointment, also name an alternative attorney. That way, if one attorney resigns, dies, or is removed by VCAT, the alternative steps in and the EPA survives.

Specifying Conditions in Your EPA

Victoria's EPA forms let you attach conditions and limitations to the appointment. You can create a hybrid approach — for instance:

• Attorneys act jointly for decisions involving real property or transactions over a specified dollar amount
• Attorneys act severally for day-to-day financial management below that threshold

This kind of tailored structure gives you granular control, but it also means every institution that needs to honour the EPA has to read and understand those conditions. Keep the language clear and specific.

Getting the Structure Right

The appointment structure is one of the most consequential decisions in your EPA, and it's locked in at execution. Changing it later means revoking the existing document and making a new one from scratch.

Our Victoria Power of Attorney Kit includes guidance on structuring joint, several, and joint-and-several appointments with bank-ready language, plus specific protocol for notifying financial institutions of the appointment structure so they don't reject it at the branch level.

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