4. Tell everyone who needs to know

It’s a good idea to tell your friends and family that you’ve cancelled your Power of Attorney for Property. This way, they know who is looking after your money and property if something happens to you.

If you can, get the original and all copies of the earlier Power of Attorney and destroy them.

If your cancelled Power of Attorney is being used

If your old attorney has already started acting for you:

• you must tell them in writing that you’ve cancelled or revoked the Power of Attorney, and
• it’s a good idea to give them a copy of your Notice of Revocation or your new Power of Attorney.

You must also give copies of the Notice of Revocation or your new Power of Attorney to anyone who thinks that person is still your attorney. Until you tell them that’s changed, they can keep dealing with the old attorney.

This includes everyone who deals with your money or property. For example, this might be your bank manager, the administrator of your pension plan, an investment agent, or your landlord.

If you own a home or other real estate, talk to a lawyer about whether you need to register the new Power of Attorney on the title to the property. This lets anyone who wants to buy the property or who has a mortgage on it know that the Power of Attorney has been revoked or replaced with a new one.

Keep a record of the name of each person you gave your Notice of Revocation or new Power of Attorney to, and the date and time you did this. Or, ask the person who takes the document from you to put a date stamp on it and write that they received it.

If your cancelled power of attorney has never been used

Even if it has not been used yet, it’s a good idea to give a copy of the Notice of Revocation or new Power of Attorney to anyone who knows about or has a copy of the old one.