By creating an enduring power of attorney, you choose and empower someone to manage your financial affairs if you lose the ability to manage them yourself. If you lose the ability without having appointed an enduring attorney, there may be no one who can manage your financial affairs. In that case it may be necessary for a relative or friend to apply to the court for someone to be appointed. That is usually an expensive, time-consuming and unsatisfactory exercise.

By appointing an enduring guardian, you choose, and give authority to, someone to manage your care and welfare, if you are unable to make your own decisions. This enables the person who you appoint to make decisions for you about your health care and about where you live. If you lose the ability to make these decisions for yourself, without having appointed an enduring guardian, there may be no one who can manage those issues for you. If that is the case, it may be necessary for a relative or friend to apply to the court for someone to be appointed. That is usually an expensive, time-consuming and unsatisfactory exercise.

For an enduring power of attorney and an enduring guardianship to be valid legal documents, the signature must be witnessed by a “qualified witness”. The qualified witness must provide advice to the person who is signing the enduring power of attorney or enduring guardianship appointment about the effect of the document and, having done so, must certify in writing that the person signing the document appeared to understand the effect of the document. If the qualified witness is not satisfied that the person signing the document understands its effect, then the document will not be validly created.

You can make an Enduring Power of Attorney document using the LawOnline system in just five minutes, if you know exactly what you want to provide and don't need any advice. Realistically, you should expect it to take about 10 minutes. If you feel that you need to read all of the advice carefully, that will take you about 20 minutes.

• It will be sent to you by email in a matter of seconds, immediately after you pay the fee and click the email button.
• You will be able to download it again from your dashboard as often as you like and you will be able to email it to yourself or to someone else, as often as you like.

• It is free for you to edit your document for a year, as many times as you like. You won't be able to change the name of the person for whom the document is made or, if a trust is created, the name given to the trust. However, everything else is freely changeable, as many times as you like for a year.
• After you have logged in you will see your name on the top menu. If you click on your name, you will see a link to your dashboard.
• Just select the edit button that you will find on your dashboard, next to the link to the document that you want to edit.

• The LawOnline system keeps a copy of the latest version of any document that you create. Your documents are kept on a secure server which is fully backed up. They are available to you through your dashboard, which you can access by logging on with your username and password. After you have logged in you will see your name on the top menu. If you click on your name, your will see a link to your dashboard.
• Your documents are kept for at least 7 years and any signed original documents that we may be keeping for you will be kept indefinitely.
• In the unlikely event that the LawOnline business failed, the Law Society has a statutory power to ensure that your documents are protected.

The Lawyers at LawOnline have carefully prepared the documents that you will find on the LawOnline site, to ensure that you will prepare a fully legal and normal legal document. You also have the benefit of all of the legal advice that is made available to you on this website. It is just as safe as visiting a lawyer personally, but is a great deal more convenient to access and is often considerably cheaper.