Your Attorney Toolkit

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Kevin Smith in January 2018.

These tools are designed to help you in your role as an attorney under a power of attorney.

New attorney checklist

When you start as an attorney under a power of attorney, here are the first things you should do.

✅ Review the power of attorney document. Understand when it takes effect and what powers it gives you. Are there multiple attorneys? Does it provide for you to be paid?

✅ Discuss your role with the adult. Talk with the adult about your role. Be clear on when you will start acting as their attorney. Discuss how you will support them in making decisions. Review how you will keep records.

✅ Deliver copies of the power of attorney. Contact any banks, businesses or people that the adult deals with and give them copies of the power of attorney. (If required, a lawyer or notary public can certify a copy as a true copy of the original document.)   

✅ Make a list of the adult’s property and liabilities. Make an inventory of the adult’s property and liabilities as of the date when you start to act on their behalf. Include an estimate of the value of the property and liabilities. See below for details.

✅ Make a budget. Prepare a budget of the adult’s income and expenses. See below for details.

✅ Set up record keeping. Set up a filing system for the records you will keep. See below for details.

✅ Review the adult’s insurance. Make sure the adult’s property is adequately insured.

(You can download this checklist from the People's Law School website.)

Inventory

Under the law, you must keep a current list of the adult’s property and liabilities. The list should include an estimate of the value of the property and liabilities if it is reasonable to do so.

The list should include real estate, any vehicles, and personal property such as furniture, appliances, electronics, clothing, jewelry, collectibles and so on. It should also include financial assets such as bank accounts and investments such as any Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), annuities, stocks, bonds, Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), and Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs).

As well, the list should include liabilities such as any mortgage, loans, credit cards, lines of credit and so on.

Here is an example of an inventory. You can download a template from the People’s Law School website.

Room/Area	Item	Estimated value	Notes
Furniture
Living room	Couch	$800	Bought in 2015 from IKEA
Living room	Chair	$400	Bought in 2012 from the Bay
...	...	...	...
Total est. value of furniture		$6,500
Transportation
Garage	Car	$10,000	2012 Toyota Corolla
Garage	Bicycle	$500	2012 Norco
Total est. value of vehicles		$10,500
...	...	...	...

Budget

While not specifically required under the law, you should have a budget that lists sources of income and expenses for the adult. This will help you keep track of spending within budget. It will also be the basis of reports you should send to the adult.

Here is an example of a budget. You can download a template from the People’s Law

Area	Amount	Amount (monthly)
Expenses
Housing	Mortgage or rent	$750
	Electricity	$100
	Gas	$50
	Insurance	$50
	Maintenance	$50
Total expenses for housing		$1,000
Transportation	Car loan payment	$200
	Car insurance payment	$125
	Gas	$75
	Bus pass	$100
Total expenses value for transportation		$500
...	...	...
Total expenses		$2,000
Income
Pensions	Old Age Security (OAS)	$850
	Canada Pension Plan (CPP)	$650
Total income from pensions		$1,500
Other	Rental income	$200
	RRSP interest income	$300
Total income from other		$500
Total income		$2,000

Filing system

Set up a filing system for all the records you will keep as the attorney.

You can set up a file folder for the monthly bank records. If there are reports for investments, put these into file folders. You will also need to prepare, file and keep a copy of annual income tax returns. You might set up one file folder for each year’s worth of income tax documentation.

For the other important documents, the adult may already have a filing system. If not, you could use a filing system with file folders, a binder with expanding sheet protector dividers, or even manila envelopes. 

One option that can work well is an expanding poly file folder with multiple pockets to keep important documents all in one place, protected from the elements.

You can buy a 26 pocket poly file folder that will accommodate 26 important types of documents in the five categories of the PFILE filing system: Personal, Financial, Insurance, Legal, and Estate & Advance Planning.

	PFILE System
I	Personal
1	Birth Certificate, Adoption Papers
2	Education / Military Service
3	Employment History / Resume or CV
4	Prenuptial Agreement / Marriage License / Divorce / Separation Agreement
5	Personal and Family History
6	Religious Documents
7	Medical History / List of Doctors / Prescriptions / Health Records
II	Financial
8	List of Bank Accounts / Bank Statements / Safety Deposit Box
9	Credit & Debit Cards
10	Taxes: Property & Income Tax Returns
11	Certificates of Deposits / Savings Bonds / Mutual Funds / Stocks
12	RRSP / RRIFs / LIFs-RLIFs / LIOs / Annuities & TCA 90
13	Old Age Security (OAS) / Canada Pension Plan (CPP) / GAINS
III	Insurance
14	Fire (Property) Insurance
15	Auto Insurance
16	Life Insurance
17	Disability / Medical / Dental Insurance
IV	Legal
18	Deed to House / Strata / Cottage or Lease
19	Mortgages & Loan Agreements
20	Passport, Citizenship Papers
21	Vehicle Title / Registration
22	Corporation / Partnership Documents
V	Estate & Incapacity Planning
23	Power of Attorney
24	Representation Agreement & Advance Directives
25	Wills, Wills Registry Information, Codicils & Letter of Instructions to Executor
26	Trust Documents

Financial management software

There are software programs that can help with managing personal funds. Perhaps the best known is Quicken from Intuit. A free online service for personal finances is Mint, also from Intuit. These services help you set budgets, track spending and pay bills.

With financial management software, it is also much easier to provide any reports requested by the adult or others.

Managing Someone Else's Money © People's Law School is, except for the images, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.