04/29/2026
Someone asked in the past year after reviewing our business contract, what the responsibilities of a POA were. I am not an expert but have in the past and currently acting as a POA for family member. I advise everyone to seek their own legal counsel for personal direction but I can share with you my understanding and a government link at the end of this post for your education.
To my knowledge:
A Power of Attorney (POA) for Property in Canada designates a trusted person (the "attorney") to manage financial and legal affairs if the creator (the "donor") is away, temporarily unavailable, or becomes mentally incapacitated.
Key Responsibilities of a POA for Property:
An attorney for property is tasked with managing the donor's financial affairs, including:
Banking & Bill Payments: Managing bank accounts, paying bills, and taxes.
Asset Management: Maintaining or selling real estate and managing investments (e.g., stocks, bonds).
Debt Collection: Collecting money owed to the donor.
Income Management: Handling pensions and benefits.
Record Keeping: Maintaining detailed, meticulous records of all transactions.
The attorney must act in the donor's best interest (fiduciary duty) and follow these guidelines:
1. Manage Carefully: Prudent management of money, treating it with more care than their own.
2. Separate Finances: Never mixing the donor’s money with their own.
3. Act Within Authority: Only doing what the POA document and provincial law allow.
4. Avoid Conflicts: Preventing any appearance of conflict, such as using the donor's money for themselves.
Key Distinctions for POA vs. Will:
A POA for Property operates only while the donor is alive and ceases upon death. It CANNOT be used to change a will.
Types of POA: A General POA works while the donor is capable, whereas an Enduring (or Continuing) POA remains in effect if the donor LOSES mental capacity.
*LIMITATIONS
An attorney cannot:
- Make or amend a will.
- Transfer property into their own name.
- Make gifts to others unless explicitly authorized in the document.
Note:
Dealings of the above could be considered unlawful or bad faith if not honest.
These duties come from Ontario’s Substitute Decisions Act (SDA) and the Powers of Attorney Act. A breach can include misappropriating money, hiding transactions, coercion, or acting for personal benefit.
If you unknowingly have breached your duties as a POA, you can speak to your lawyer for direction, their confidentiality is absolute.
Under the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer cannot disclose the client’s misconduct — even if it involves financial abuse or breach of fiduciary duty however, it is important to know:
They cannot assist or continue the wrongdoing. A lawyer must not:
• help the client hide assets
• help them produce false accounts
• help them mislead the court
• draft documents that perpetuate the breach
This falls under the rule prohibiting assisting dishonesty, fraud, or bad faith.
Law Society ... but on the upside, they must give candid legal advice
The lawyer must explain:
• the legal consequences of the breach
• potential civil liability
• possible removal as POA
• possible court‑ordered accounting
• potential repayment obligations
They may also:
• refuse to act on instructions that are dishonest
• advise the client to correct the breach
• advise the client to provide proper accounting
• advise the client to negotiate repayment
• withdraw from the file if the client refuses to act lawfully
For you’re information, it appears:
Ontario courts have clear authority under the Substitute Decisions Act (SDA) to compel a POA to produce a complete, sworn accounting of every transaction they made on behalf of the grantor so make sure you keep timely accounting and record keeping of all your transactions.
For more information on POA Property and POA for Care, see:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/estate-planning-and-wills
and
https://www.ontario.ca/page/make-power-attorney
Now, if you are also an Executor of the Estate, you need to consider that both roles are acted upon separately. If anyone is interested in those details, put YES in the comments and I will include a Part 2.
Again, I advise you to seek legal professional guidance if you are in these positions, this is my own interpretation and understanding.
Image result from www.publications.gov.on.ca
