Legal and Financial Matters
Understanding your rights and having an early discussion about your future is important to ensure your loved ones and family understand your wishes. It is important to begin this process and prepare for your future as you consider some of the following financial and legal matters.
General Non-enduring Power of Attorney
The general non-enduring power of attorney enables you to appoint a power of attorney for a specific purpose and is commonly used for a fixed period of time. It is not enduring.
Enduring Power of Attorney
An enduring power of attorney, enables you to appoint a substitute decision maker. If you make an enduring power of attorney, the power endures (continues) even when you cannot make decisions due to an injury or an illness.
Understanding Medical Support
Medical Treatment Decision Maker
Your medical treatment decision maker makes medical treatment decisions they reasonably believe, is the decision you would make if you had decision-making capacity.
Medical Support Person
The support person can also represent your interests in relation to your medical treatment. However, your support person does not have power to make medical treatment decisions on your behalf, unless they are also your medical treatment decision maker.
Advanced Care Directive
An advance care directive is a legal document made under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016.
In an advance care directive, you can write either or both:
- an instructional directive with legally binding instructions about future medical treatment you consent to or refuse
- a values directive which documents your values and preferences for your medical treatment decision maker to consider when they are making decisions on your behalf.
To complete an advance care directive you must have decision-making capacity.
Victoria Civil Administrative Tribunal
All adults have the right to make their own decisions. However, if a person is unable to make reasonable judgements because of a disability, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) can appoint a guardian or an administrator to make decisions on their behalf.
Before appointing a guardian or an administrator, VCAT must be satisfied that the needs of the person cannot be met by any other means less restrictive of the person’s freedom of decision and action.
Guardianship – if a person is unable to make reasonable judgements because of their disability and there are concerns about the decisions they are making, or others are making for them, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) can appoint a guardian to make decisions for them. Guardianship may also be needed if there are different views which cannot be resolved about what is in the person’s best interests, and a decision needs to be made.
Administrator – An administrator makes only financial and legal decisions related to the estate of a person with a disability (the represented person), such as banking, paying bills or selling property.
How we can help
Supportive Aged Care social workers can provide you with general information regarding the processes involved in arranging powers of attorney, appointing a medical treatment decision maker and discussing an advanced care directive with your loved ones. We can also assist you with VCAT applications and psychosocial reports.
However, we strongly encourage you to seek legal advice if you have any concerns regarding your financial and legal affairs. We are unable to provide you with any legal advice.
