Skip to main content

Skip to navigation

The access keys for this page are:


Bookmark and Share
Seniors BC

Legal Issues

Wills and estate planning are important issues for seniors. British Columbians have a variety of resources to help guide them through the legal processes involved.

You can learn about wills, power of attorney, and other legal topics through the People’s Law School, and the Canadian Centre for Elder Law.

You can learn about advance care planning and how to make future health care decisions, sometimes called living wills, here.

Individuals on modest incomes may also be eligible for free or low-cost legal services.

If you are a victim of crime, there are services available to help you.There are also resources available to assist if you suspect that a vulnerable adult may be subject to abuse, neglect or self neglect.

The Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia (PGT) protects the legal rights and financial interests of seniors (and others) who are not capable of making their own personal financial and/or legal decisions without assistance.

People’s Law School

The People’s Law School is a non-profit society that provides free and impartial legal information in plain language. Available resources include many useful publications, such as Writing Your Will and Being an Executor.

The People’s Law School makes a special effort to serve seniors and others with distinct needs. The People’s Law school does not provide legal advice directly to individuals, but may refer them to other sources of assistance.

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law (CCEL) is a non-profit organization committed to helping older adults in their relationship with the law and to provide research and education on legal issues of significance to older adults.

Legal Aid: the Legal Services Society

If you have a legal problem and are on a low income, the non-profit Legal Services Society (LSS) may be able to provide you with legal aid, such as:

  • Legal information: Available to anyone through LSS websites, publications written by LSS staff, and our outreach workers.
  • Legal advice: Available to financially eligible people through family, criminal and immigration duty counsel, and through telephone advice.
  • Representation by a lawyer: Available for financially eligible people with serious family, child protection, criminal, or immigration problems.

Victim Services

Across B.C., 161 programs provide information, referrals, emotional support and practical assistance to victims of crime. A further 30 Community Response Networks operate to create a coordinated community response to abuse, neglect and self neglect of vulnerable adults. Designated Agencies across the B.C. are required to investigate complaints of abuse, neglect and self neglect.

The Public Guardian and Trustee website offers information on helping vulnerable adults to get support and on reporting abuse and neglect.

Victims of certain crimes may be eligible for financial assistance or benefits through the Crime Victim Assistance Program, which helps victims of crime to recover from their experiences.

The B.C. Ministry of Justice's Victim Services website offers information on these and other services.

VictimLINK is a province-wide, 24-hour, toll-free telephone help line for victims of family and sexual violence, and all other crimes: 1-800-563-0808.

In any emergency, dial 911 to contact your local emergency services.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney is a legal document that appoints another person to make financial and legal decisions for you.

A power of attorney can be very specific. For example, you may give a trusted relative or friend the power of attorney to cash your Old Age Security cheques for you. Your bank can also give you a form if you need a power of attorney for a specific bank account.

A power of attorney automatically ends if you die or become bankrupt. It also ends if you become mentally incapable, unless you provide that the power of attorney should continue by creating an “enduring power of attorney”. An enduring power of attorney allows your representative to make financial and legal decisions for you if you become mentally incapable of making decisions. To create an enduring power of attorney, the document must state that the power of attorney will remain in effect even if you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself.

The person who is granted power of attorney can only make legal and financial decisions. This individual cannot make medical or health care decisions for you. For those decisions, you need to create a “representation agreement”. The Ministry of Attorney General has an optional standard form for completing an enduring power of attorney. You can find out more about power of attorney arrangements at the website of the Canadian Bar Association.

Adult Guardianship / Committeeship

A committee (guardian for an adult) makes decisions for another adult who is not mentally capable of making those decisions about their health care and personal affairs and/or their financial and legal affairs, whether through disease, accident or age. If you become mentally incapable and have not already named someone to make decisions for you, the B.C. Supreme Court may appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf.

The Public Guardian and Trustee of B.C. may also be appointed as committee to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf if a Certificate of Incapability is issued by a Director of a Mental Health Facility or Hospital Psychiatric Unit.

If you want to plan for the future while you are still fully capable, you can name the person you want to make decisions for you if you lose your mental capacity. You can do this with:

  • A representation agreement (for financial, legal, personal care and health care decisions), or
  • An enduring power of attorney (for only legal and financial decisions).

The Canadian Bar Association provides useful information about adult guardianship, representation agreements, and enduring powers of attorney. The Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia provides detailed information about the laws governing adult guardianship in B.C.

To see the consultations that preceded the amendments to the BC adult guardianship legislation, see the Ministry of Attorney General Consultations on Legislation and Policy.

Representation Agreements

With a representation agreement (which can include instructions to the representative), you can choose someone you trust to be your legal representative, to handle your financial, legal, personal care, and health care decisions if you are unable to make those decisions on your own. That person can be a family member, friend, or someone else. You can register your representation agreement with the Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry. Nidus also provides useful information about representation agreements and living wills.

The Ministry of Attorney General has optional standard forms for completing representation agreements.

The Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia

The Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia serves adults who require assistance in decision making through protection of their legal rights, financial interests and personal care interests, and assists heirs and beneficiaries of deceased persons when there is no one willing or able to administer their estates or where the heirs or their whereabouts are unknown.