How to Register a Power of Attorney in Nunavut for Property Transactions

Why Registration Matters for Nunavut Property Owners

A signed power of attorney is a privately retained document — there's no government filing requirement to make it legally valid. Your Form A or Form B takes effect based on its own terms without being filed anywhere. But the moment real property enters the picture, that changes.

If the donor owns land or buildings in Nunavut and the attorney needs to sell, mortgage, transfer, or otherwise deal with that property, the power of attorney must be registered with the Nunavut Land Titles Office. Without registration, the Land Titles Office won't accept the attorney's signature on any real property transaction. The sale stalls, the mortgage application dies, and the attorney has no way to deal with the property — even though they hold a perfectly valid power of attorney for every other financial matter.

This catches families off guard because most of a power of attorney's usefulness — banking, bill payments, government benefits, investments — works without any registration. Property is the exception.

How the POLAR System Works

Nunavut's Land Titles Office operates through the Parcelized Online Registration System, known as POLAR. This is the same electronic system used across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut for all land title registrations, caveats, and encumbrances.

To register a power of attorney against a property:

1. Confirm the legal land description of the property. This isn't the mailing address — it's the formal lot, block, and plan number recorded on the property's certificate of title. If you don't know it, you can search through POLAR or contact the Land Titles Office directly.

2. Prepare a certified copy of the executed power of attorney. The original should never be submitted to any registry; it stays in secure storage. A certified copy — photocopied and sworn as a true copy before a Commissioner for Oaths or notary — is what gets filed.

3. Submit through POLAR or by mail to the Land Titles Office. The registration is filed as a general encumbrance (Form 14 under the land titles tariff) against the specific property.

4. Pay the registration fee of $20 (base document fee under the current Land Titles Tariff).

Once registered, the attorney's authority to deal with that property is established in the public record. Any subsequent purchaser, mortgagee, or title examiner will see the registration and know that the attorney has authority to transact on the donor's behalf.

What You Can and Can't Do with a Registered POA

Registration empowers the attorney to execute real property documents on behalf of the donor — transfers, mortgages, discharges, easements, caveats. But it doesn't expand the attorney's underlying authority. If the power of attorney document itself contains restrictions (say, it excludes authority to sell the family home), registration doesn't override those limits. The Land Titles Office will check both the registration and the terms of the POA before accepting a transaction.

If the donor holds property in multiple jurisdictions — say, a house in Iqaluit and an investment property in Ontario — the Nunavut registration only covers Nunavut properties. Ontario's land registry system has its own filing requirements, and the attorney would need to register separately in that province.

One critical timing issue: if the donor has already lost capacity by the time someone realizes the POA wasn't registered, a springing POA (Form A) must have already been activated through Form C declarations before registration can proceed. The Land Titles Office won't accept a registration from an attorney whose authority hasn't yet sprung into effect.

Revoking a Registered POA

If the donor revokes their power of attorney using Form D while still mentally capable, the revocation must also be filed with the Land Titles Office. The original registration doesn't automatically expire — it stays on title until formally removed. This matters because a third party searching the title would still see the POA registration and might rely on it, creating confusion or legal liability.

The revocation filing follows the same process: submit a certified copy of the executed Form D through POLAR or by mail, referencing the original registration number. The fee is the same $20 base document charge.

If the donor dies, the power of attorney terminates immediately by operation of law. The executor or administrator of the estate should file notice of the death with the Land Titles Office to clear the POA registration from title, but they can also simply proceed with their own authority under a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.

Storing Your Power of Attorney Safely

Beyond registration, every Nunavut power of attorney needs a practical storage plan. The original document is irreplaceable — if it's lost, the donor must execute a new one while still mentally capable, which may be impossible if the whole reason the POA is needed is declining capacity.

A storage approach that works for Nunavut's geography:

• Original kept in a fireproof safe or lockbox in the donor's home, ideally in a location that the attorney and at least one other trusted family member knows about
• Certified copy with the attorney — this is what they'll present to banks and registries in practice
• Certified copy with the alternate attorney — if the primary attorney can't act, the alternate needs immediate access
• Certified copy at the bank — proactively provide a copy to the donor's bank branch. Banks have internal verification processes that can take weeks; filing a copy in advance prevents delays during a crisis
• Certified copy with the community health centre — particularly for the Personal Directive component, the local health centre needs a copy on file so that if the donor is medevaced, the document travels with their medical records

Avoid storing the only copy in a safe deposit box that requires the donor's signature to access — this creates a catch-22 where the document needed to manage the donor's affairs is locked behind access that requires the donor to manage their own affairs.

Registration Checklist

Before you leave the signing table, confirm:

• The original Form A or B is safely stored with the donor
• At least three certified copies exist (attorney, alternate, bank)
• If the donor owns Nunavut real property: POLAR registration is filed ($20 fee paid, legal land description confirmed)
• If the donor is a joint tenant on property: both joint tenants' names are noted for the Land Titles search
• Form C declarations (for springing POAs) are stored with the document, not separately
• The named recipient knows where the document is and has a copy of the summary page

The Nunavut Power of Attorney Kit includes a document distribution tracker that maps each copy to its location and holder, plus step-by-step POLAR registration instructions for property owners.

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