New approved forms for Enduring Powers of Attorney were introduced for use from 30 November 2020. These forms, available in PDF format on the Department of Justice and Attorney-General website, are the authorised version of the approved forms.
An Explanatory Guide and a Form 8 Additional Page were also released. The Form 8 Additional Page is specifically designed for situations where additional clauses need to be inserted in an Enduring Power of Attorney or an Advance Health Directive and there is insufficient room in the space provided in the approved form.
It has been noted that some practitioners and legal template providers are using the approved forms in a Word document (or other word processing software) that includes expandable text boxes. This practice raises concerns for several reasons:
- The use of expandable text boxes which cause text to flow over the page alters the original structure and layout of the approved form.
- The use of expandable text boxes may interfere with the cross-referencing between the forms and the Explanatory Guides.
- The Powers of Attorney Act 1998 (Qld) states s44(1): “An enduring power of attorney must be in an approved form.” While the Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld) s48A(1) allows for substantial compliance, subsection (2) states that if a form approved under an Act is to be completed in a specified way, or specified information is to be included in, attached to, or given with the form, then non-compliance may render the form not properly completed.
It is recommended that practitioners make use of the Form 8 Additional Page when clauses cannot fit into the allocated space.