Deed of Delegation

If you have property in a trust, or if you own a company and you’re planning on leaving the country, don’t simply rely on your Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) for property. A company is a separate legal person, and even if control lies solely with you, signing a personal Power of Attorney does not give your attorney the right to sign for you in your capacity as a Director or Trustee. What you need, is a Deed of Delegation.
Monday, 30 April 2018

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“It’s very much like the EPA, but it’s a different document. This is the one you need for your business. If you're overseas, become incapacitated, or if your business partner dies and you don’t have this deed sorted, you can count on major headaches. Costly delays and a whole lot of stress around the settlement of property can be expected unless you have the right documentation in place,” explains Anne Ludgate from The Law Shop.

“An Enduring Power of Attorney for property covers personal property and includes interest in property. It also includes any money, business or undertaking and any right or power you may have in respect of any property, but it does not apply to property owned by a trust or a company,” Anne clarifies.

If you only wish for your attorney to act when you are not able to physically sign documents yourself, such as when you are not in the country, a standard power of attorney and deed of delegation can be put in place.  The terms allow your attorney to act and sign on your behalf, and you can put limitations in place if you wish and stipulate any further conditions for its use.

You can usually appoint more than one attorney if you wish, and you can specify whether they must act unanimously or individually.  You can either have a Power of Attorney granted by the Company in favour of your Attorney, or you can appoint an Alternate Director to act on your behalf while you are away.

“It is important that this person is someone who you trust completely. Whichever powers you put in place, do it in consultation with us to ensure that the powers work for your structure and needs and that the documents are being drafted appropriately,” Anne says. 

Give the team at The Law Shop a call on 0800 LAW SHOP (0800 529 7467) if you’d like to find out more, and we’ll make a time to talk things through with you. You can visit us at our office, or we can come to you. Or we can Skype, if that suits you better. Just make sure to organise important things like this for your business before you get on that plane.