3. Understand how to make decisions

As long as you do your duties and act in good faith, no one can take legal action against you for any decisions you make as an attorney. Good faith means:

• acting honestly, carefully, and in a timely way, and
• believing that you’re making good decisions for the person.

When making decisions, you must:

• take the least intrusive and restrictive actions
• let the person be as independent as possible
• encourage the person to take part in making decisions about their personal care as much as they can
• consult with other people involved in the person’s care, including supportive family members and friends, doctors, nurses, and social workers

You must also:

• keep a record of all your decisions
• encourage the person and their supportive family and friends to have regular contact
• explain your duties to the person

You need to keep more detailed records for important decisions. These might be decisions about:

• serious medical treatments
• changes that will disrupt the person’s life like moving out of their home

Make sure to record the date you made the decision, what you looked at, who you talked to, and why you made the decision.

Decisions that overlap with property decisions

Sometimes decisions about property and personal care overlap. For example, if you have to decide where the person will live, the options may depend on the cost of rent, and other expenses like hydro or meal plans.

When this happens, you must work with the person who makes decisions about the person’s money and property.