Your Voice, Trust Your Choice

Tips for seniors making enduring powers of attorney

This booklet is for older people. It includes helpful tips, case studies, and sample wording to assist you to think about, and make, your enduring power of attorney.

The majority of enduring powers of attorney work well. It is, unfortunately however, not possible to guarantee that your enduring power of attorney will only be used in the way you want.

Your enduring power of attorney may be misused by someone that you trust – or thought you could trust. Most victims of
abuse of enduring powers of attorney are older people. However, there are important steps that you can take to
reduce the risk of things going wrong.

This guide can help you decide whether to make an enduring power of attorney. If you decide to make one, this guide will
help minimise the risk of abuse by making an enduring power of attorney that:

• captures your wishes about decisions that might be made on your behalf
• ensures the right people are involved in the decisions that are made on your behalf

This booklet, published in June 2023, was developed by OPA in partnership with the  Commissioner for Senior Victorians, Gerard Mansour, and funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).