by Yes, they trusted you, they appointed you as their attorney, to manage their property, their money, their bank accounts.
However, that has now stopped. You cannot lawfully continue to operate their bank account or make other decisions about their property.
Instead, with their death, the authority passed to their executor, if they left a will that appointed an executor.
If they didn’t leave a will, nobody has authority until someone is granted ‘letters of administration. However, if there’s less than $15,000 in a financial institution, it can be uplifted by whoever inherits it according to the law.
Yes, broadly speaking, an EPA (enduring power of attorney) ceases to be effective when the donor dies. (There are limited exceptions. For instance, if, as their attorney, you were appointed as administrator of someone else’s estate for which they were the beneficiary, you can still act for 3 months after they die.)
You cannot, in law, use your former access to their bank account to pay their debts, or estate legal fees, or even the funeral bill. Rather, your job is to tell the bank that your loved one has died. Their accounts will then be frozen unless they are joint accounts with someone else.
If they did not leave a will, being their attorney does not give you priority to apply for letters of administration. If you will inherit from them according to the law that applies when someone dies without a will, that inheritance right is what gives you the right to apply for letters of administration.
If the same person is attorney and executor, it’s their nomination as executor, not the EPA, that bestows the authority to act.
That’s another reason why you need to make a valid will, even if you have already made an EPA. The EPA is effective until you die. When you die, your will takes over. You need both.
No, Kiwilaw does not prepare EPAs. (For more info about that, see https://kiwilaw.co.nz/2023/01/12/kiwilaw-epas/)
Yes, Kiwilaw does help with wills – as long as you use our blank will form or our online will interview, or use our will-check service to be sure the will you have already signed has been signed and witnessed correctly.
Of course, when the time comes, we can also help with letters of administration, or probate.
