Two documents get confused constantly in estate planning conversations across the Greater Toronto Area; the Power of Attorney for Property and the Power of Attorney for Personal Care are often treated as one and the same, though they aren’t, really. Each is assigned a distinct job by law. Money, assets, and financial decisions are covered by one; health care and personal wellbeing choices are governed by the other. In many cases, it’s assumed by families that one document covers both, and that assumption gets corrected only after a crisis has already started. The two are often signed together, though entirely separate legal functions are served by each, oddly enough overlapping in almost no practical way once you look closely.

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What to know about being someone’s power of attorney   Click here to view the full interview by Leanne Kaufman on the…