Cancer diagnosis

Enduring power of guardianship

An Enduring Power of Guardianship is a legal document that authorises a person of your choice to make important personal, lifestyle and treatment decisions on your behalf if you become incapable of making such decisions yourself. This person is known as an enduring guardian.

You may authorize your enduring guardian to make decisions about:

  • where you live
  • the support services you have access to
  • the treatment you receive

It is important to know that an enduring guardian cannot be authorised to make property or financial decisions on your behalf.

To make an Enduring Power of Guardianship you and your appointed Enduring Guardian must both:

  • be 18 years or older
  • have full legal capacity (this means you must be able to make a formal agreement and understand the implications of statements contained in that agreement)

You can appoint more than one enduring guardian as joint enduring guardians, but they must act jointly, which means they have to be able to reach agreement on any decisions they make on your behalf. If you plan to appoint more than one enduring guardian, it’s important to be sure of their ability to work together on your behalf.

You can find out more about Enduring Guardians at the Public Advocate WA website or find out when the next Health Department Advance Health Plan/Enduring Guardian workshop is running at Solaris Cancer Care.

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