The Powers of Attorney Amendment Act 2016, which took
effect on 1 May 2017, makes a number of technical changes and
improvements to the Powers of Attorney Act 2014
(2014 Act). The amendments were accompanied by a
series of new power of attorney forms, which can be found in the
Powers of Attorney Amendment Regulations 2017.
The changes
The purpose behind the amendments was to resolve a slew of
issues with the 2014 Act, which has been in operation since 1
September 2015. The 2014 Act was introduced to consolidate the
powers of attorney rules which had formerly come under the ambit of
the Instruments Act 1958 (Old Act) and
Guardianship and Administration Act (1986). However, there
were a number of teething issues with the 2014 Act that need to be
resolved. Note that certain provisions of the Old Act may still
apply to the exclusion of the 2014 Act (see discussion below).
