Power of Attorney Duties in BC: An Attorney's Legal Responsibilities

Being named someone's attorney under an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPoA) in BC is not an honour or a courtesy — it is a legal role with binding fiduciary duties. Get them wrong and you can be personally liable for losses, forced to repay money, and investigated by the Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT). Most people who breach these duties never intended to; they simply didn't know the rules.

Here is what BC law actually requires of an attorney, in plain terms.

The six core duties of a BC attorney

Under the Power of Attorney Act, an attorney managing someone's finances must:

1. Act honestly, in good faith, and solely in the adult's best interests. Your own interests must never conflict with theirs. Every decision is measured against what benefits the adult — not what's convenient for you.

2. Keep meticulous records. Every financial transaction — receipts, bank statements, invoices, tax returns — must be kept organized and available. If the PGT, a family member, or a court ever asks you to account, "I didn't keep track" is not a defence; it is evidence against you.

3. Keep the adult's assets strictly separate from your own. No co-mingling. Do not move their money into a joint account, and do not pay their bills out of your account and reimburse yourself informally. Blurring the line is the single most common way well-meaning attorneys get into trouble.

4. Take no personal benefit. You cannot take a loan, gift, or benefit from the adult's estate unless the EPoA explicitly authorizes it — and even then, gifts and loans are capped by statute (more below).

5. Consult the adult. Determine and follow their current wishes and preferences to the greatest extent possible, even when their capacity is diminished. The role is to support their choices, not override them.

6. Preserve value. Manage their investments and affairs prudently, avoiding unnecessary decline. You don't have to be a professional investor, but you can't be reckless or neglectful.

Gifting, loans, and getting paid

Two areas trip up attorneys constantly:

Gifts and loans. By default an attorney cannot benefit anyone but the adult. If the EPoA permits gifts (for example, continuing the adult's usual charitable donations or birthday gifts to grandchildren), BC law still caps them at the lesser of 10% of the adult's taxable income or $5,000 per year — unless the document expressly says otherwise. Exceed that without authority and you may have to repay it.

Compensation. You may only be paid for acting as attorney if the EPoA explicitly authorizes compensation, ideally stating the rate. Silence means you work unpaid. Quietly paying yourself out of the adult's account without written authority is a breach — and looks exactly like financial abuse to a bank or the PGT.

Who can even be an attorney

The duties assume the right person is in the role to begin with. In BC an attorney must be at least 19, and — importantly — paid personal-care or health-care providers are generally excluded from acting as attorney for someone they're paid to care for, to prevent conflicts of interest. Choose someone financially organized, trustworthy, and willing to deal with bank compliance departments. See who can be a power of attorney in BC.

When the adult dies, your authority ends instantly

A duty people forget: the EPoA terminates the moment the adult dies. You have no authority to pay bills, move money, or manage anything after death — that role passes to the executor named in the will. On death you must:

• Stop all financial management immediately.
• Compile a final accounting of assets, liabilities, and transactions up to the date of death.
• Hand everything to the executor, who takes over under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act.

Any transaction after death is unauthorized. See is power of attorney valid after death in BC.

What counts as power of attorney abuse in BC

Abuse doesn't require malice. It includes co-mingling funds, unauthorized gifts or "loans" to yourself or family, paying yourself without authority, failing to keep records, and using the adult's money for your own benefit. Because BC banks are alert to elder financial abuse, they may freeze accounts or refuse transactions the moment something looks off — even for an honest attorney with sloppy records.

Anyone can report concerns to the PGT, which has the power to investigate an attorney's conduct and apply to court. If you suspect the person acting under a power of attorney is misusing it — draining accounts, isolating the adult, refusing to account — that is the office to contact.

If you're a Monitor on a Section 7 Representation Agreement that includes finances, you have your own duty: make reasonable efforts to confirm the representative is complying, and you have the legal right to demand and inspect their records.

Protect yourself by documenting everything

The best protection against a future accusation is the paper trail you build now. Keep a dedicated file, log every transaction with dates and reasons, retain receipts, and never mix the adult's money with your own. If you ever have to answer to the PGT or a court, clean records turn a stressful investigation into a formality.

Our British Columbia Power of Attorney Kit includes a fiduciary-duty checklist and a transaction/decision log built for exactly this — so an attorney can act confidently, stay within the rules, and be ready to account at any time. The duties are strict, but they're not complicated once you know them: act in the adult's interest, keep the money separate, keep records, and stop the day they die.

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