The Basics Of Enduring Guardianship Explained

If you are ageing, or have the misfortune of being diagnosed with a progressively debilitating disease, then you are faced with some difficult questions. How am I going to care for myself? What will become of me? These are hard questions to come to terms with, but there is something that you can do now that will take some of the guesswork out of your future- appoint an enduring guardian now while your faculties are still clear and you can make the decision for yourself rather than have someone else make it for you!

If you haven’t yet heard the term, deciding on an enduring guardianship is the act of choosing a highly trusted individual to have the power to make important lifestyle and personal decisions for you when you are no longer able to make them for yourself. The decisions are referred to as functions, and the number of them and what they cover can be determined in advance by you.

In order to make this very serious decision you must be of the age 18 years or older and be considered mentally competent in order to be aware of and understand the gravity of what you are doing. You have the choice of appointing just one guardian or several who can be instructed to act together or separately and can be given authority over specific aspects of your life, and exactly what decisions you wish them to be able to make for you.

The people you designate for this solemn responsibility must be people you have utmost trust in, and they should fully understand your wishes and values in order for them to make decisions with your best interests in mind, and in a way that you would approve of.  It’s vital that you carefully discuss their appointment with them to make sure your preferences are fully understood. This is also an important choice for them to accept, so both parties must be in full agreement, and the intended guardian must be willing to take on such a high level of responsibility.

You must be aware and prepared for the fact that there are some decisions that an enduring guardian will not be authorised to make for you as follows:

• Casting a political vote for you
• Writing your will for you
• Consenting to a marriage for you
• Managing your finances for you
• Overriding any wishes you have in place regarding your future medical treatments

An Enduring Guardianship will of course cease upon the event of your death, or by revocation, or by your subsequent marriage in which case your new spouse will be given the duties.

If you have not appointed an enduring guardian before you lose your capacity to make decisions a public guardian can be appointed to manage your affairs.

For more information on the subject of enduring guardianship, check with your state’s government office, for example, New South Wales’s guidelines can be found at this link. This is an important decision to make so think carefully, and we wish you and your enduring guardian all the best.