How to Get Power of Attorney When Caring for a Parent

After realizing I needed to take a more active role in managing my parents’ affairs, my first task was locating their important documents. The next step was navigating multiple financial institutions to access accounts and ensure bills were paid on time. I also began working more closely with my father’s doctors and researching support services we might need down the road.

There was a time when you could walk into a local bank branch or doctor’s office and speak with a familiar person who could help. Those days are largely gone. With the rise of online fraud, deepfakes, and remote account access, banks and service providers must carefully verify your identity and legal authority before allowing you to act on someone else’s behalf.

The most effective document to streamline that process is the power of attorney (POA). It’s the single most practical tool for empowering a trusted person to make financial and health-care decisions when an individual can no longer do so themselves.

What is power of attorney?

A power of attorney (POA) is a legal document that authorizes one person, several people, or a legal entity to make decisions for someone else. POAs can cover financial matters, health-care decisions, or both, and they become crucial when a person’s cognitive abilities decline or they otherwise cannot manage their own affairs.

Financial POAs allow caregivers to pay bills, manage investments, sell property, open or close accounts, and handle banking tasks. Health-care or personal care POAs permit designated representatives to make medical and care decisions, including choosing treatments, consenting to procedures, and making end-of-life choices where applicable.

Many people focus on wills, which are essential for after death. But while someone is still alive and loses the ability to make decisions independently, a POA is the document that enables trusted individuals to act in their best interests now—both financially and medically.

When my parents and I signed POAs years ago, I didn’t appreciate how important they would become. Later, as my father’s health declined, those documents allowed me to manage his finances and health-care needs efficiently. Without a POA, representing someone can still be done, but the alternatives are often long, costly, and bureaucratic—requiring extensive documentation and many interactions with different institutions that each have their own verification rules.

How power of attorney works

You can name a single person, multiple people, or an entity as your POA. If you appoint more than one person, the document should specify whether they act jointly or severally. Joint authority requires all appointed representatives to agree and sign on decisions together. Severally means any one of the appointed people can make decisions independently.

From a practical standpoint, a severally clause can be helpful when those named live in different cities or when quick action may be necessary. In other families, dynamics or preferences may make joint decision-making more appropriate. My father named my mother and me as POAs both jointly and severally, which allowed me to act quickly when needed—important because I lived in Toronto while they were in Ottawa, and my mother’s health was also fragile.

There are typically two main types of POA documents: a power of attorney for personal property (financial matters) and a power of attorney for personal care (medical decisions). The personal property POA grants authority to manage banking, investments, and property transactions. For example, as my father’s POA for personal property, I listed and sold his Ottawa home, signed agreements, and cancelled home-related accounts.

That sale presented a complication: the closing date was delayed, but I had already cancelled the home insurance and other utilities. Because the insurer accepted the POA documentation, they were able to reinstate the policy so the house wasn’t left uninsured. Without a valid POA, reinstating that coverage would likely have been more difficult and could have exposed my father to significant risk.

Varieties of POA

The personal care POA gives a designated person authority to make medical and care decisions if someone becomes incapacitated. These decisions can range from consenting to medical tests and procedures to end-of-life choices, including Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders in situations where aggressive interventions would only prolong suffering.

As my father’s cognition declined, I used the personal care POA to approve tests, schedule appointments, and evaluate long-term care options. When my mother suffered a stroke and became incapacitated, her POA for personal care authorized me to make urgent medical decisions, including consent for intubation when necessary.

A lawyer can draft POA documents tailored to your jurisdiction and needs. There are also online templates that can be more affordable, but it’s important to ensure any document you use is legally valid where you live. After signing, the original is often kept with the lawyer. When you need to act on a POA, many institutions require a notarized copy. Ask the lawyer to provide multiple hard copies (10–15) since you’ll likely present the document to banks, insurers, hospitals, and other service providers.

Your responsibilities as POA

Acting as someone’s POA carries fiduciary responsibilities. You must keep accurate, detailed records of all transactions and decisions made on behalf of the person. While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, digital record-keeping makes this more manageable—save receipts, statements, and confirmations to a secure cloud folder or electronic filing system so you can quickly produce documents when needed. I kept e-documents in Dropbox, which proved invaluable when banks or hospitals requested records on short notice.

A POA remains valid while the person is alive unless they revoke it, change it, or a court invalidates it—usually because a designated representative can no longer serve and no successor was named. Based on my experience supporting both my parents, I strongly recommend setting up POAs for yourself and for aging parents as a standard part of planning. They protect the person’s interests, reduce stress on caregivers, and help avoid lengthy legal alternatives at moments when time and clarity matter most.

Read more about retirement finance:

• What’s more important: your wealth or your legacy?
• From RRSP to RRIF—managing your investments in retirement
• Having a financial plan more than doubles your retirement confidence
• What is the Canada Pension Plan death benefit?