BC has introduced changes to the Representation Agreement Act as of September 1, 2011.

A Representation Agreement is a planning document for BC only that authorizes your representative to take care of your personal medical decisions if you are unable to. Unlike the Power of Attorney, it covers health and personal care issues. It comes in two forms, a Standard Agreement and an Enhanced Agreement. The Enhanced Representation Agreement can cover health and personal care in BC. You can specify who has the right to make a major health care decision on your part including refusal of life support.

Our office does prepare Representation Agreements

"We thought we had everything covered with our Will and joint ownership"

As of September 1, 2011, BC has brought in new laws for the Power of Attorney also called the Enduring Power of Attorney or EPA.

It is important to have an Enduring Power of Attorney ("EPA") before a crisis happens.

As an adult, no one, not even a spouse, has legal authority over your legal and financial affairs.

An EPA authorizes someone to look after the legal and financial affairs of another person (the donor) in BC.

An EPA is governed by British Columbia legislation, which has come into force as of September 1, 2011. Based on this new Act, if you give someone your Enduring Power of Attorney, amongst other things, it:

1. can be valid from the time it is granted,
2. becomes void upon your the death,
3. can be used immediately and stays valid if you later become incapable
4. gives you a lot of safeguards with guidelines as to what that person can do for you.

Although it can take effect immediately, it is often used as an important and valuable planning tool which will allow the designated person(s) to look after your legal and financial needs in BC in the event that you become incapacitated from a car accident, Alzheimer's or stroke for example.

Having an EPA will:

• make it simpler for your family,
• avoid costly court applications,
• avoid having the Public Guardian and Trustee administering your assets.

In order to give someone your EPA, you must be able to as set out in the Act, so don't wait until it's too late.

Power of Attorney (and in some cases, those prepared outside of BC) can also be used to conduct real estate transactions in BC if you are unable to attend at our office to sign documents at the time of the Completion date.

However, some mortgage companies will no longer allow mortgages to be signed by Power of Attorney. It is a good idea to have the mortgage lender approve the Power of Attorney prior to any intended use for mortgage signing.

We can also prepare Long Form Power of Attorney documents which are often used for legal matters in other countries.

What is not covered by an EPA?

An EPA does not cover health care or personal care matters. This can be covered in BC with a Representation Agreement.

As of September 1, 2011, our office now prepares Representation Agreements due to recent changes to BC legislation. These are incapacity planning documents which wlll allow an individual to name another person to manage their personal and health care needs.

October 6, 2010

BC Online is now offering a central site so you can order strata documents online from strata management companies.

There are fifteen companies participating so far.

Click here for more information

WESA received Royal Assent October 29, 2009 and is expected to come into effect in spring/summer 2011.

It will combine and amend four current statutes into one. The Wills Act, the Wills Variation Act, the Estate Administration Act and the Probate Recognition Act will form Wesa.

As well as bringing changes to the making of wills and estate administration in BC, it will also be plain language. A person making a Will no longer will be called a testatrix or a testator and will take on the new name of willmaker.

More info to follow.