Pro­tect your in­terests and create a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney

Why You Should Create a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney and Ex­actly How to Do It

A Power of At­torney (POA) is a power­ful legal doc­u­ment that grants someone else the au­thor­ity to act on your behalf in per­son­al, fin­an­cial, or medical mat­ters.

However there may come a time when you need to revoke that power. Whet­h­er due to changes in your re­la­tion­ship with the ap­poin­ted at­torney, a shift in your per­son­al situ­ation, or simply a de­cision to take back con­trol, cre­at­ing a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney is a cru­cial step to ensure your wishes are re­spec­ted.

Why You Should Create a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney

1. Pro­tect Your In­terests:
Re­vok­ing a Power of At­torney en­sures that the person you ori­gin­ally granted au­thor­ity to no longer has legal con­trol over your af­fairs. If your re­la­tion­ship with the at­torney has changed or you no longer trust their judg­ment, re­voc­a­tion is ne­ces­sary to pro­tect your in­terests.

2. Adapt to Life Changes
 Life changes such as mar­riage, di­vorce, re­lo­ca­tion, or changes in health might ne­ces­sit­ate re­vok­ing an ex­isting POA and ap­point­ing someone else. A Deed of Re­voc­a­tion allows you to adapt to these changes, en­sur­ing that the person hand­ling your af­fairs is the one you cur­rently trust the most.

3. Pre­vent Misuse of Au­thor­ity
 Un­for­tu­nately, there can be in­stances where the person hold­ing your Power of At­torney may misuse their au­thor­ity. By form­ally re­vok­ing the POA, you pre­vent any po­ten­tial misuse and safeguard your assets, fin­ances, and well-being.

4. Avoid Legal Com­plic­a­tions
 Simply telling someone that their power has been re­voked isn’t enough. Without a formal Deed of Re­voc­a­tion, the ori­gin­al Power of At­torney re­mains leg­ally bind­ing, which can lead to com­plic­a­tions. A leg­ally re­cog­nised re­voc­a­tion doc­u­ment en­sures that the re­voc­a­tion is clear, of­fi­cial, and en­force­able.

5. Peace of Mind
Know­ing that your Power of At­torney is re­voked and no longer in effect provides peace of mind. You can rest as­sured that your af­fairs are handled ac­cording to your cur­rent wishes, without any linger­ing un­cer­tain­ties.

How to Create a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney

Cre­at­ing a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney is straight­for­ward but re­quires care­ful at­ten­tion to detail. Here’s how to do it:

1. Review the Ori­gin­al Power of At­torney
  Start by re­view­ing the ori­gin­al Power of At­torney doc­u­ment to un­der­stand its terms, the powers granted, and the iden­tity of the ap­poin­ted at­torney. This will help ensure that your re­voc­a­tion is com­pre­hens­ive and spe­cif­ic.

2. Draft the Deed of Re­voc­a­tion
  Your Deed of Re­voc­a­tion should in­clude the fol­low­ing key ele­ments:

• Your full name and ad­dress
• A state­ment de­clar­ing the re­voc­a­tion of the Power of At­torney
• De­tails of the ori­gin­al Power of At­torney, in­clud­ing the date it was signed
• The name and ad­dress of the at­torney whose power is being re­voked
• The date of re­voc­a­tion
• Your sig­na­ture

3. Notify the At­torney and Rel­ev­ant Parties
After cre­at­ing the Deed of Re­voc­a­tion, you must notify the at­torney in writ­ing that their powers have been re­voked. It’s also im­port­ant to inform any in­sti­tu­tions, such as banks or health­care pro­viders, that the POA is no longer valid.

4. Re­gister the Re­voc­a­tion
If your ori­gin­al POA was re­gistered with the Office of the Public Guardi­an (OPG), you must notify the OPG of the re­voc­a­tion. This en­sures that the re­voc­a­tion is of­fi­cially re­corded and re­cog­nised. How to Notify: Send the Deed of Re­voc­a­tion to the OPG either by post or through their online ser­vices, if avail­able. In­clud­ing a copy of the ori­gin­al re­gistered POA can help ex­ped­ite the pro­cess.

5. Use a Legal Tem­plate
To sim­pli­fy the pro­cess, con­sider using a legal tem­plate. Aatos will soon offer a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney tem­plate, de­signed to make the pro­cess straight­for­ward and leg­ally sound. This tem­plate will help you ensure that your re­voc­a­tion is prop­erly doc­u­mented and en­force­able.

Final Thoughts

Re­vok­ing a Power of At­torney is an im­port­ant de­cision that should be ap­proached with care. By cre­at­ing a Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney, you take con­trol of your legal and fin­an­cial af­fairs, pro­tect­ing your in­terests and ad­apt­ing to life’s changes. Keep an eye out for Aatos’ up­com­ing Deed of Re­voc­a­tion of Power of At­torney tem­plate, which will make craft­ing this crit­ical doc­u­ment easier and more ac­cess­ible. Whet­h­er due to a change in cir­cum­stances or a shift in trust, en­sur­ing that your Power of At­torney aligns with your cur­rent wishes is vital for your peace of mind.