Power of Attorney Limitations South Australia

Why Default EPA Powers Are Broader Than Most People Realise

A standard Enduring Power of Attorney on Form P2, without any conditions or limitations, gives your attorney authority over virtually all your financial and legal affairs. They can access every bank account, sell investments, enter contracts, manage debts, deal with the ATO, and — if the EPA is registered with Land Services SA — sell your real property.

That level of authority is appropriate when you fully trust your attorney and want them to have maximum flexibility. But many donors want guardrails — specific restrictions that prevent certain actions without additional oversight, or conditions that shape how the attorney exercises their powers.

South Australian law accommodates this through the conditions and limitations section of Form P2.

What You Can Restrict

Form P2 includes dedicated space for conditions and limitations. This section is optional — if you leave it blank, the attorney has unrestricted financial authority. But if you fill it in, whatever you write becomes a legally binding constraint on the attorney's powers.

Property Sale Restrictions

The most common limitation: preventing the attorney from selling your home without additional approval.

Example clause: "The attorney must not sell, transfer, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of the property at [address] without the prior written consent of [named person]."

This protects the family home from being sold without oversight — particularly important if the donor is in aged care and the family disagrees about whether the property should be sold.

Gifting Limits

By default, an attorney has no authority to make gifts from the donor's assets. But some donors want to allow customary gifting — birthday presents, Christmas gifts, charitable donations — while preventing large transfers.

Example clause: "The attorney may make gifts to the donor's children and grandchildren for birthdays and Christmas not exceeding $200 per person per occasion. No other gifts are permitted."

Without a gifting clause, the attorney cannot make even small gifts. With an overly broad clause, the attorney could transfer significant sums under the guise of "gifts."

Investment Restrictions

If the donor has specific views about how their money should be invested, conditions can enforce that.

Example clause: "The attorney must maintain the donor's existing term deposits and must not invest in shares, managed funds, or cryptocurrency without written approval from [named person]."

This is particularly useful when the donor is conservative with their finances but the attorney might have different investment preferences.

Transaction Value Caps

Rather than restricting specific types of transactions, you can impose a ceiling on individual transaction amounts.

Example clause: "Any single transaction exceeding $5,000 requires the written consent of [named person] in addition to the attorney."

This keeps routine bill-paying and daily management fully within the attorney's authority while requiring oversight for larger amounts.

Dual-Approval Requirements

For families who want shared oversight without appointing joint attorneys (which creates its own complications), a dual-approval condition achieves a similar effect.

Example clause: "For transactions involving real property, investments, or amounts exceeding $10,000, the attorney must obtain written approval from [named person] before proceeding."

The named person doesn't need to be an attorney themselves — they're an oversight mechanism, not a co-decision-maker.

What You Cannot Restrict

The conditions section has limits. An EPA is a financial and legal instrument, so conditions must relate to financial and legal matters.

• Healthcare and personal decisions cannot be addressed through an EPA. Those belong in an Advance Care Directive.
• Will-making authority cannot be granted through an EPA. An attorney can never sign a will on the donor's behalf.
• Trust management may be limited. If the donor is a trustee, the trust deed — not the EPA — usually dictates who can act as replacement trustee.

Conditions also cannot contradict the statute. You can't write a condition that says "this EPA continues after my death" — the law terminates all powers of attorney at death regardless of what the document says.

Drafting Effective Conditions

Be Specific

Vague conditions create more problems than they solve. "The attorney should act responsibly" adds nothing — the fiduciary duty already requires this. "The attorney must not spend more than $3,000 per month on discretionary items" gives a clear, enforceable boundary.

Name Real People

If a condition requires approval from a second person, use their full legal name and relationship to the donor. "Written approval from a family member" is ambiguous. "Written approval from Jane Margaret Smith (daughter)" is enforceable.

Consider the Attorney's Practical Needs

Overly restrictive conditions can make the EPA unworkable. If every transaction over $100 requires dual approval, the attorney can't buy groceries or pay a parking ticket without tracking down the oversight person. Match the restriction thresholds to the actual risk you're managing.

Plan for the Oversight Person Being Unavailable

If your conditions require approval from a named person, consider what happens if that person dies, moves overseas, or becomes incapacitated themselves. Include a fallback: "If [named person] is unable to provide consent, the attorney may obtain consent from [alternate named person]."

Changing Conditions After Signing

Conditions cannot be amended after Form P2 has been signed and witnessed. To change the conditions, the donor must revoke the existing EPA (using Form RP) and execute a new one with the updated conditions.

This means getting the conditions right the first time matters. Spend time thinking through realistic scenarios before signing — what does the attorney need to be able to do independently, and where does oversight add genuine protection?

The South Australia Power of Attorney Kit includes worked conditions templates for property restrictions, gifting limits, investment boundaries, and dual-approval structures — with the specific clause language you can write directly into Form P2.

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