New Brunswick Power of Attorney: Property vs Personal Care

Two Documents, Two Separate Legal Authorities

New Brunswick's Enduring Powers of Attorney Act (2020) creates two distinct instruments. A Property EPA authorizes someone to manage your finances — bank accounts, investments, tax filings, bill payments, real estate transactions. A Personal Care EPA authorizes someone to make decisions about your healthcare, living arrangements, diet, clothing, and social services.

These are not interchangeable. A Property EPA gives your attorney zero authority over medical decisions. A Personal Care EPA gives your attorney zero authority to access your bank account. If you only set up one, you have a gap that will cause serious problems during a crisis.

You can combine both into a single document — most lawyers draft it that way — but the legal authorities remain distinct even within one piece of paper.

How Each One Works

Property EPA

A Property EPA can be either immediate (effective the moment it's signed) or springing (activated only when a specific condition is met, usually a formal capacity assessment confirming the grantor can no longer manage their finances).

The scope is broad by default. Unless the EPA contains explicit restrictions, the attorney has the same power over the grantor's property that the grantor themselves would have. That includes withdrawing funds, paying debts, selling real estate, managing investments, and filing taxes. General Regulation 2020-43 requires the attorney to maintain detailed financial records from day one — an initial asset inventory, a liabilities list, a transaction ledger, and logs for any gifts or compensation.

The mandatory lawyer requirement applies here. A Property EPA (or any combined EPA that includes property powers) must be signed in the physical or virtual presence of a practicing New Brunswick lawyer who certifies the grantor's capacity.

Personal Care EPA

A Personal Care EPA is always springing — it only activates when the grantor loses the capacity to make their own care decisions. Until that happens, the attorney has no authority to override the grantor's choices.

Once activated, the attorney can make decisions about medical treatment, hospital admissions, nursing home placement, personal hygiene, diet, and recreational activities. If the grantor also has a Health Care Directive (instructions about specific treatments like life-prolonging measures or comfort care), the Personal Care attorney must follow those instructions. The directive and the EPA work together — the directive says what the grantor wants; the attorney ensures those wishes are carried out.

Unlike a Property EPA, a standalone Personal Care EPA does not require a lawyer. The grantor can sign it in the presence of two independent adult witnesses (both at least 19 years old, neither named as an attorney, and not the spouse or child of a named attorney). That said, if you're creating a combined document, the lawyer requirement for the property component applies to the whole thing.

The Standalone Health Care Directive Trap

Before the 2020 Act, New Brunswick allowed standalone health care directives to appoint a substitute decision-maker. That is no longer the case. Under current law, a Health Care Directive can outline your treatment preferences, but it cannot name someone to enforce them. The appointment of a healthcare proxy must happen through a Personal Care EPA.

Families who created standalone healthcare directives under the old system sometimes discover this gap during a hospital admission — the directive says what the patient wants, but nobody has the legal authority to make it happen. If you have an old directive, it's still valid for its treatment instructions, but you need a Personal Care EPA to put someone in the decision-making seat.

Which One Do You Need?

Most people need both. The typical scenario is an aging parent whose adult children want to ensure continuity on both fronts — financial management and healthcare decisions — if the parent develops dementia, suffers a stroke, or has any other event that compromises their decision-making.

Setting up only a Property EPA leaves the family scrambling through the court system if a medical crisis hits. Setting up only a Personal Care EPA leaves them unable to pay bills, access accounts, or sell the house to fund care.

A combined document is the most common approach. The lawyer drafts both authorities into a single EPA, handles the execution requirements for the property component (which automatically satisfies the less stringent requirements for personal care), and the family walks out with complete coverage.

The cost for a combined EPA drafted by a New Brunswick lawyer typically runs $500 to $1,500+. The New Brunswick Power of Attorney Kit includes preparation worksheets that help you organize everything the lawyer needs before the appointment, so the billable time is spent on execution rather than information gathering.

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