Free Power of Attorney for Personal Care Template

Completing a POAPC ensures you control who makes personal care decisions for you if you become mentally incapacitated. Without a POAPC, a family member may lack the authority to make all necessary personal care decisions for you.

When no POAPC exists, a substitute decision-maker will be appointed based on the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA) hierarchy. To learn more, refer to the Guide to Substitute Decision-Making Brochure.

You must be at least 16 years old and mentally capable of creating a valid POAPC. You need the mental capacity to understand whether the person you appoint genuinely cares about your well-being. You must also understand that this person may need to make personal care decisions for you.

Your attorney will make personal care decisions for you if you become mentally incapable of making them yourself. Personal care decisions include aspects such as your living situation and health care.

Health care decisions can include, but aren’t limited to:

• agreeing to or refusing medical treatments
• choosing a long-term care home,
• coordinating assistance services in care facilities
• decisions regarding housing, meals, clothing, hygiene, and safety

Attorneys for Personal Care handle significant decisions regarding your health and personal care. Their responsibilities include:

• Making treatment decisions based on your capable wishes or your best interests if your wishes are unknown.
• Consulting with family and friends involved in your care.
• Supporting your independence.
• Acting diligently and in good faith.
• Choosing the least restrictive and intrusive options.
• Encouraging regular contact between you and loved ones.
• Allowing you to participate in decisions as much as possible.

Choose your personal care attorney thoughtfully, as they will make crucial decisions affecting your life. Many people select a trusted family member, friend, or spouse.

Your attorney must meet these requirements:

• Be at least 16 years old.
• Be someone you trust deeply to make critical decisions.
• Be willing to take on the responsibilities of an attorney.

Certain people cannot serve as your attorney, including anyone who provides your care for compensation (unless they are your spouse or relative). Specifically, these individuals are ineligible:

• Care providers in your residence
• Your landlord
• Counsellors, social workers, or teachers
• Doctors, therapists, nurses, or other health care providers
• Attendants or homemakers

You do not have to appoint an attorney for personal care, as it is entirely your choice. If you do appoint one, make sure it is your decision and not influenced by pressure. If unsure about appointing someone, consult family, friends, or a lawyer.

You can appoint multiple attorneys to share responsibilities or handle specific types of decisions. For example, one attorney may oversee health care, while another handles housing and nutrition.

By default, multiple attorneys must act together and agree on all decisions. If you prefer them to act independently, state in your POAPC that they can act “jointly and severally.” This allows one attorney to decide without the other’s approval.

If you want to give your personal care attorney special instructions, you can do that in your POAPC. To learn how, see our Guide to the Power of Attorney for Personal Care.

Name a substitute attorney in case your primary attorney cannot act on your behalf. Your primary attorney may become ill, be unavailable, or pass away. Having a substitute ensures decisions can still be made when needed. Your substitute attorney will have the same authority as the primary attorney.

Your attorney steps in only if you are deemed mentally incapable of making personal care decisions.

Being incapable of making personal care decisions means you cannot understand information that’s relevant to a personal care decision or can’t appreciate what could happen as a result of making (or not making) a certain decision about the matter.

You might still make everyday decisions while your attorney handles serious health matters. Your attorney will typically only act after you’re found incapable of making a specific personal care decision. For treatment and long-term care decisions, a qualified health professional under the Health Care Consent Act determines incapacity.

For medical treatment or long-term care admissions, a health professional must assess your capacity first. You can also require your attorney to obtain independent proof of your incapacity, such as a doctor’s letter, before acting.

Note: Capacity is assessed for every specific decision. You may be capable of making some personal care decisions, but not others.

A valid POAPC should contain the following information:

• Your full legal name, address, and signature
• The legal name(s), address(es) of your attorney(s)
• The legal name(s), address(es), and signature(s) of your two witnesses
• If you have more than one attorney, whether they can make decisions separately
• The scope of authority you’re providing your attorney
• Conditions or instructions for your attorney

You don’t need a lawyer to draft your Power of Attorney for Personal Care in Ontario. To ensure your POAPC is legally valid, it must meet the following criteria:

• Your POAPC must be stored as a physical printed document (it cannot be stored online).
• All POAPC signatures must be in wet ink and placed appropriately in accordance with Ontario execution requirements.
• You must be mentally capable of giving someone the authority to be your personal care attorney.
• You (the person drafting the POAPC) are over the age of 16.
• Your attorney(s) are over the age of 16.
• It must be witnessed and signed in front of two witnesses (see witness requirements below)

A Power of Attorney for Personal Care generally takes effect when you’re found incapable of making a specific personal care decision. Your attorney doesn’t automatically have authority just because the document exists.

Incapacity is determined on a decision-by-decision basis, typically by a qualified health professional under the Health Care Consent Act. Until you’re found incapable of making a particular choice, you retain the right to make your own personal care choices.

In Ontario, a Power of Attorney for Personal Care must be signed by the grantor in the presence of two eligible witnesses. Both witnesses must also sign the document. The witnesses must meet the following criteria:

• Be 18 or older
• Have the mental capacity to understand what they’re witnessing

The following list of individuals cannot act as witnesses:

• Your (the grantor’s) partner, spouse, or child
• Your attorney’s spouse or partner
• Anyone under 18 years old
• Individuals under guardianship
• Your attorney or substitute attorney
• Anyone incapable
• Individuals providing care for compensation

• You sign a paper copy of your POAPC with wet ink in front of two witnesses during a video call.
• • One witness must be a Law Society of Ontario licensee for online signings.
• NotaryPro’s witnesses sign an identical paper copy of your POAPC with wet ink (during the same video call).
• Both witnesses are in the same location; you can be in a different location.
• NotaryPro mails you the identical paper copy of your POAPC (that was signed by its two witnesses).
• You staple the paper copy of your POAPC (signed by the two witnesses) to your original POAPC (which you signed during the video call).
• A notary public will stamp the copy signed by both witnesses to indicate that the document was executed remotely, per Ontario laws that allow remote witnessing.
• With the stamp, both copies are taken together in the eyes of the law.