Author: Bernie Hayward

You can appoint enduring guardians to act jointly (the enduring guardians must agree on all decisions), severally (each enduring guardian can make decisions separately from the others), or jointly and severally (the enduring guardians can act together or separately).

You can choose to have the remaining joint enduring guardian(s) continue even though one or more of the others die, resign or become incapacitated. The Appointment of Enduring Guardianship form provides an option to allow for this in Section 1c. If you do not choose this option, the enduring guardianship will end automatically when one of the joint enduring guardians dies, resigns or becomes incapacitated.

You can also appoint an alternative enduring guardian who can act only if the original enduring guardian(s) dies, resigns or becomes incapacitated.

You can appoint one or more persons as enduring guardian. If you appoint more than one enduring guardian, you can direct them to act jointly or separately (severally).

Your enduring guardian must act within the principles of the Guardianship Act, in your best interests and within the law. You cannot give your enduring guardian a function or a direction which would involve them in an unlawful act.

An enduring guardian cannot consent to anything unlawful and cannot:

• make a will for you,
• vote on your behalf,
• consent to marriage,
• manage your finances, or
• override your objections, if any, to medical treatment.

If at the time decisions are made by your enduring guardian to which you strongly object, the matter can be brought to the Guardianship Tribunal.

An application must be made to the Guardianship Tribunal to authorise medical treatment overriding your objections. Also, only the Tribunal can consent to certain ‘special’ medical treatments.

You can give your enduring guardian as many or as few functions as you like. You can delete the functions you do not want your enduring guardian to have and add others if you wish. For example, you can give them the power to decide on your health care but not where you live.

You may give the enduring guardian directions about how to exercise the decision making functions you give them. For example, you can direct your enduring guardian to consult with a particular close friend before making a decision.

If your enduring guardian has a health care function, they will be able to see your medical records to help make decisions for you.

The person you appoint as your enduring guardian must be:

• at least 18 years old
• someone you trust to make decisions in your best interests.

The appointed enduring guardian cannot be a person who, at the time of appointment:

• provides medical treatment or care to you on a professional basis; or
• provides accommodation services or support services for daily living on a professional basis; or
• is a relative of one of the above.

If you are over 18 years, you can appoint one or more people to be your enduring guardian. At the time you appoint an enduring guardian, you must have the capacity to understand what you are doing.

An enduring guardian is someone you choose to make personal or lifestyle decisions on your behalf when you are not capable of doing this for yourself. You choose which decisions you want your enduring guardian to make. These are called functions. You can direct your enduring guardian on how to carry out the functions.