To get the best help for your situation, first answer the questions on the Preliminary questions page.
What to do
Guardianship and continuing power of attorney
- Preliminary questions
- Take these steps
- Prepare for the future with a continuing power of attorney
- Preparing a continuing power of attorney
- Content of a continuing power of attorney document
- Keeping and validating the continuing power of attorney document
- Cancelling or changing the continuing power of attorney
- Identifying the situation
- Starting to use the power of attorney
- Managing matters with a continuing power of attorney
- End of the continuing power of attorney
- Identifying the situation of a close person
- Applying for guardianship
- During the guardianship
- Guardianship ends or the guardian is replaced
- When does a child need a guardian?
- Duties of a child’s guardian
- You guardianship duties are ending
- Help with managing finances
- Applying for a guardian for yourself
- If a guardian is appointed to me
- Changing guardians or termination of guardianship
- Checklist
Keeping and validating the continuing power of attorney document
Where should I keep the original continuing power of attorney document?
You should keep the document in a place where the donee can easily find it when it is needed. You can, for example, prepare several power of attorney documents, give one of them to the donee and keep one copy for yourself.
Please, note that the Digital and Population Data Services Agency will only check the original power of attorney when the granter applies for the confirmation of the power of attorney. The continuing power of attorney document cannot be sent to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for storage.
Updated: 18/12/2023
When do I submit a power of attorney to the authority?
Do not submit a power of attorney to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for storage or registration.
When it must be implemented, the attorney applies to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for validating it and delivers the application and the original power of attorney to the agency.
Updated: 18/12/2023
When is the continuing power of attorney validated?
The continuing power of attorney will only be used when you are no longer able to manage your affairs. It may be that the power of attorney will only be validated decades later or there may not be any need to validate it.
Updated: 5/5/2023