While there is a lot of talk in legal circles about Powers of Attorney and the prevention of elder abuse, I feel most of the focus has been on drafting ever more complex clauses, or doing a better job of identifying abuse or risks that already exist. I believe that the biggest risks with Powers of Attorney are the assumptions that clients bring to the document, and the fact that they are treated as a set and forget type document making it very difficult to protect against abuse or risk that may not arise for decades.
In this upcoming CPD on Elder Abuse we will look at what sort of client education we need to do to create a document that actually protects them, as well as the following topics -
A review of recent cases regarding elder abuse involving allegations against the solicitor who prepared the Power of Attorney
What are the actual, common risks to people preparing these documents?
Which risks has the client already thought about, which ones do we need to educate them on?
What is our duty as solicitors to protect our clients from future elder abuse? How do we go about doing that?
Can adding a clause help? Can giving different advice help?
The timing of the abuse, or the problem, will impact what the appropriate response is. If you look at the above slide, if the child is already living with the parent then this is something that you can discuss at your initial consultation, and provide some advice. You can even structure your document and your appointment to try to avoid duress. However, if the adult child does not move in with the parent until after preparation of the Power of Attorney, particularly in circumstances where the client insists that they won’t have a child come and live with them, then how can we protect a client from that risk. Can we protect a client from that risk? I think that we can, though it involves having more than a peripheral conversation about aging and medical needs.
The CPD Events
In April 2026 we will be having a CPD event where we cover three topics, with this topic being one of them. The cost for this three in one event will be $175. The other topics are -
Fixed Costs and Probate - what changed in December 2025 with the new regulations? What is covered by fixed costs? What things can I charge at my normal hourly rate, even before Probate is received? Read more about it here.
Non-standard Probate Applications - what happens when your application doesn’t quite fit the online Probate system? What are some requisitions that others have received and how do we avoid those? Read more about it here.
In keeping with previous CPDs, you will get a $50 discount code if you email a requisition from the Supreme Court in relation to an Estate matter and provide enough information for the requisition to make sense. I will bundle them together and they will form part of the subject matter material available to participants. Email it to janis@janisconsults.com and then I will send you the discount code and a survey for you to complete with further questions.
You can find out more about the event by going into the Facebook Group, or you can register for the event by clicking on the button below. There is an online options, and an in person (in Penrith) option. They both cost the same, the in person event will have lunch and morning tea provided. Either way we will be hoping to take live questions and work through answers together, and the training will be recorded.
If you have any questions then please reach out to me at janis@janisconsults.com
NSW Estate Lawyers Facebook Group
Did you know about the free Facebook Group? This is a group for NSW Estate Lawyers to discuss things that are particular to practising Estate law in this State. Here are some examples of things we might discuss -
(1) Does anyone have a list of local lawyers for XYZ suburb so I can send out a letter enquiring if they hold a Will?
(2) Does anybody have better contact details for ABC bank?
Of course more recently there is a lot of discussion about pragmatic issues with the new online system. We might also share the occasional post that only other lawyers who practice in this area will appreciate. The idea is to help and support each other, and share information that is helpful.
If you would like to join you can just search for “NSW Estate Lawyers” in groups on Facebook, please make sure that you answer the questions.
