You have signed your enduring power of attorney, chosen someone you trust, and put the document somewhere safe. There is one more practical step worth considering: speak with your financial institutions before your attorney needs to act.
Otherwise, the document may first reach the bank during a hospital admission or after you have become unable to answer questions yourself. Your attorney could then face a review just when bills need paying. Planning ahead cannot guarantee acceptance, but it can bring questions to light while you can help resolve them.
Arrange an appointment before there is a crisis
Contact each financial institution where you hold accounts, investments, or other assets, including banks, credit unions, investment firms, and insurance companies. Explain that you have signed a power of attorney and want to understand its process for reviewing the document and recognizing your attorney’s authority. Ask what to bring and whether your attorney should attend with you.
An “attorney” in this context is the person you appoint to manage financial matters, not necessarily a lawyer. A joint appointment may require more than one person to participate. Investment accounts or other services may involve a separate department or institution.
If you need an introduction to the document itself, see our article on understanding a power of attorney.
Ask for a review, not just a copy on file
“We have a copy” is not necessarily the same as “we have reviewed it and identified what is required.” Ask whether the document can be reviewed now by the appropriate staff, even if your attorney will not be transacting immediately.
Useful questions include:
- Has the document been reviewed, or only received?
- Is anything missing or unclear?
- What identification and additional evidence will my attorney need?
- Can you confirm the outcome and outstanding requirements in writing?
Keep the response, the contact’s name, and the date. If further review is needed, ask for an estimated timeframe. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada guidance explains that banks covered by the Canadian Bankers Association’s public commitment must make information available about their requirements, review processes, and options if they refuse to act. Other financial institutions may have different procedures.
Separate three different questions about capacity
A later question about capacity can mean several things. Being clear about the question helps avoid misunderstandings.
First, did you have the required capacity when you signed? That concerns your ability to understand and appreciate the document and its consequences at that time. A later diagnosis of dementia does not, by itself, establish that you lacked capacity when the document was executed.
Second, are you capable of managing your finances now? An enduring power of attorney is intended to continue despite later incapacity. A change in your abilities is not the same question as whether the original document was validly made.
Third, does your particular document require something to happen before the attorney can act? Some powers of attorney take effect immediately; others depend on a specified event or condition. If yours requires evidence of incapacity, ask what evidence will satisfy its wording. Filing the document with a bank does not remove that condition.
Tell the bank whether you are seeking advance review only or arranging for your attorney to begin acting. Do not assume that introducing the attorney either grants immediate access or postpones authority already provided by the document.
Preserve useful evidence without creating unnecessary hurdles
An early appointment gives you an opportunity to confirm that you signed the document voluntarily, identify your attorney, and explain your wishes. Ask that the discussion and the bank’s review be recorded. However, a branch conversation is not a formal capacity assessment or a guarantee against future questions.
Keep the contact details of the estate planning professional who assisted you and any execution-related documents supplied. If a concern later arises, records made around the signing date may be relevant. A new letter describing your health today does not necessarily answer a question about your capacity years earlier.
This does not mean everyone should obtain a doctor’s letter. Where there is an actual concern, ask the professional involved what assessment or supporting evidence may be appropriate. Capacity is not established merely by age, a diagnosis, or a document’s notarization.
Find out what documents and identification are required
Ask whether the institution needs to inspect the original or will accept a certified copy, and who may certify it. Do not assume an emailed scan will suffice. Bring the complete document and the identification requested for you and your attorney.
Ask how joint or substitute attorneys will be recognized. If a substitute is stepping in, the institution may need evidence that the circumstances permitting the substitution have occurred.
Keep the original secure but accessible through an appropriate arrangement. Your attorney should know where it is and how to obtain it. Avoid making its only location a place they cannot access when you are unavailable. Follow the bank’s authorized-access process rather than sharing your personal banking password or PIN.
What if the bank offers its own form?
A bank may offer a power-of-attorney form designed for its accounts. That does not mean you automatically need to replace the document you have already signed. FCAC guidance recognizes customers’ right to obtain a power of attorney from another source, even where the bank offers its own.
Ask whether you are being given an identification or account-administration form, or a new power of attorney. Those are not necessarily the same thing.
Before signing a new power of attorney, have its relationship to your existing document reviewed. It could contain different appointments, limits, commencement terms, or revocation wording. Ask what it would change and why the bank believes it is needed. A request for another signature should not leave you with competing or inconsistent arrangements.
Is adding your child to the account easier?
Joint ownership and attorney authority are different arrangements. An attorney acts on your behalf under the document. Adding someone as a joint account holder changes the account arrangement and can give that person access in their own capacity.
That may raise questions about ownership, withdrawals, creditor exposure, family disputes, and what happens when one account holder dies. For a parent and adult child, whose money it is and who should receive it after death can become particularly contentious.
Do not treat adding a child as a routine workaround for power-of-attorney paperwork. Obtain advice about the consequences for your circumstances before changing ownership. A seemingly convenient shortcut can create a different problem for your estate.
If the bank later questions capacity at signing
Your attorney should ask for the precise concern and the requested evidence, preferably in writing. Is the bank questioning capacity at execution, seeking evidence to activate a conditional document, or checking the attorney’s identity or authority for a particular transaction?
If the issue remains unresolved at the branch, ask for review by the appropriate specialist team and a timeframe. Contact the professional who assisted with the document to discuss what relevant records may exist and how they can properly be provided. Sensitive records should not be circulated more widely than necessary.
If the bank refuses to proceed, ask for its reasons and complaint-handling process. Professional legal assistance may be needed where validity is disputed or the consequences of delay are serious. Earlier review records can help explain what was already considered, but do not prevent legitimate later questions about changed circumstances, possible misuse, or a particular instruction.
Before you put the document away
- Contact each institution and ask about advance review.
- Confirm whether review is complete and record outstanding requirements.
- Clarify when your attorney may act and what evidence is needed.
- Keep the original accessible and preserve relevant correspondence.
- Notify institutions when you replace or revoke a document.
The aim is not to eliminate every future check. It is to resolve foreseeable questions while you can participate, leaving your attorney better prepared when help is needed.
At Worry Free Will, we can assist you in preparing an enduring power of attorney as part of planning for the future. This article provides general information for Nova Scotia readers, not legal advice about a particular document or bank dispute.