To plan for when I can’t make decisions on my own, do I need a power of attorney and a representation agreement?

A power of attorney gives someone you trust the power to look after your financial and legal affairs. An enhanced representation agreement gives someone you trust the power to look after your health care and personal care. So, yes, these two documents do very different things. You’d need both to cover all of those types of decisions.

There are also standard representation agreements, which apply to financial and health decisions, but they are more limited in the types of decisions they cover. For example (on the financial side), they can’t empower a representative to buy or sell your home or take out a loan on your behalf. And (on the health side) they can’t empower a representative to make decisions about things like life-saving treatments or physical restraint.

If you’re in a crisis, standard representation agreements are designed to help right away, even if you’re already incapacitated in some way. 

But if you’re planning for the future, a combination of a power of attorney and an enhanced representation agreement will provide you with certainty as to how financial and health affairs (both big and small) will be handled. Check out more details on how to prepare an enduring power of attorney and an enhanced representation agreement.