Protection for person dealing with attorney and next person if unaware of invalidity
99 Protection for person dealing with attorney and next person if unaware of invalidity
A person who—
deals with an attorney under a general power of attorney made under this Act, or an enduring document, (the document); and
does not know, or have reason to believe, the principal did not have capacity to make the document;
is entitled to rely on the certificate of the witness to the document as evidence of the principal’s capacity to make the document.
A transaction between—
an attorney purporting to use a power that is invalid; and
someone else (the third person) who does not know of the invalidity;
is, in favour of the third person, as valid as if the power were not invalid.
If the interest of a purchaser depends on whether a transaction between an attorney and a third person was valid because of subsection (2), it is conclusively presumed in favour of the purchaser that the third person did not at the material time know of the invalidity of the attorney’s power if—
the third person makes a statutory declaration before or within 3 months after the completion of the purchase that the third person did not at the material time know of the invalidity of the attorney’s power; or
the transaction between the attorney and the third person was completed within 1 year after the power of attorney was made.
In subsections (2) and (3)—
attorney means an attorney under—
a general power of attorney made under this Act; or
an enduring document; or
a power of attorney made otherwise than under this Act, whether before or after its commencement.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandum
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