A power of attorney has the potential to be very dangerous in the wrong hands so clearly the best safeguard is to choose a donee who is very trustworthy. Although it is a criminal offence to misuse a power of attorney, for example to take money or to not use money in the person's best interest, it may be difficult to detect the crime. With an enduring power of attorney, the donor may be incapacitated and may not be capable of discovering the crime. There is no official checking done to ensure that donees are doing their job properly. If a person makes a power of attorney with no conditions, the donee is able to sell, mortgage or give away all that donor owns.

The following suggestions may help a person to safeguard their interests.

The most important rule in selecting to whom to appoint as an attorney is - choose carefully. It should be someone trustworthy who can act in the donor's best interests at all times (see Safeguard your finances publication from Alliance for Prevention of Elder Abuse website).

A donor can nominate more than one donee if they want to. If the donor chooses to have two or more people listed as donees, they can specify that they act jointly (all donees must sign) or jointly and severally (either of the donees can sign independently of each other).

If the donor decides to have more than one donee, it is important that those people can work together.