Power of Attorney for Personal Care: Getting Your Questions Answered!
EAPO in partnership with Megan Stuckey, Lawyer with Advocacy North for Elders & Seniors and the Sudbury Community Legal Clinic AND Shauna MacEachern, Occupational Therapist and Designated Capacity Assessor, Capacity Assessment & Risk Evaluation for Seniors (CARES) hosted a follow-up webinar on power of Attorney for Personal Care to specifically ANSWER key QUESTIONS raised during the webinar held on Jan. 19th, 2023 and evaluation feedback surveys. This session provided detailed responses, both live and written, on issues, concerns and questions related to legal issues pertaining to Powers of Attorney and mental capacity, capacity tests, when the POAs are effective and more.
Speakers:
Megan Stuckey, Lawyer with Advocacy North for Elders & Seniors and the Sudbury Community Legal Clinic
Shauna MacEachern, Occupational Therapist and Designated Capacity Assessor, Capacity Assessment & Risk Evaluation for Seniors (CARES)
Resources from Webinar
Power of Attorney for Personal Care
https://www.cleo.on.ca/en/publications/power
Community Advocacy and Legal Centre (CALC)
Tips Sheets (including POA, Financial abuse by a POA and Consider acting as a POA)
EAPO’s Resources
Elder Abuse and Knowing Your Legal Rights
English
Provincial Directory Elder Abuse Support and Response Service Organizations
English
Help and Support for Older Adults Facing Abuse
English French
Starting the Conversation HOW TO ASK ABOUT ABUSE
English French
Websites
CLEO Connect
Ontario’s home for legal information training, tools, and resources for community workers.
www.cleoconnect.ca
CLEO’s Steps to Justice Your Guide to Law in Ontario
Power of Attorney for Personal Care
CLEO’s Guided Pathway to Preparing A Power Of Attorney
CLEO’s Guided Pathways offers interactive interviews to help you make powers of attorney. The Guided Pathways are free to use.
https://stepstojustice.ca/guided-pathways/wills-and-powers-of-attorney-preparing-a-power-of-attorney/
CLEO’s Guided Pathways Tools
Use CLEO’s free online interviews to fill out legal forms, draft letters, and identify your next steps. The Guided Pathways ask you questions and then use your answers to fill in the forms and letters you need. When you are done, you can save and print your papers.
French site
English site
Supports
Contact your local community legal clinic.
Find your local clinic or call 1-800-668-8258
Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors
(Northern Ontario only)
1-800-697-8719
Hosts the program Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors which provides legal advice and representation to low-income elders and seniors throughout Northern Ontario who have legal issues related to their age. Free and confidential advice is available with the following:
- Problems with community services and healthcare
- Supportive housing & long-term care homes
- Consent and capacity: powers of attorney, decision about capacity
- Physical, emotional or financial abuse
Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE)
(for low-income seniors)
1-855-598-2656
ACE serves people 60 years of age and over in the Greater Toronto Area, and may also provide services to seniors outside of Toronto if the case is of significance to the seniors’ community. ACE also works with the local community clinics across the province to provide legal services to seniors living in these other locations.
ARCH Disability Law Centre
(specializes in disability rights law)
1-866-482-2724
ARCH Disability Law Centre is a specialty legal clinic that practices exclusively in disability rights law. ARCH also represents persons with disabilities and disability rights organizations in precedent-setting cases at various provincial and federal courts and tribunals, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the Canadian Transportation Agency as well as appellate courts, including the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Law Society Referral Service
www.lsuc.on.ca/lsrs/
Connects people looking for legal assistance with a lawyer or paralegal. For anything from dealing with a traffic ticket to buying your first home, you can find a legal representative with LSRS. When you request a lawyer or paralegal referral online, LRS will give you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will provide a free consultation of up to 30 minutes to help you determine your rights and options, provided we have a match available. You can start the online process of obtaining a lawyer referral or paralegal referral at www.findlegalhelp.ca, 24 hours a day.
Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT)
1-800-366-0335
- makes financial decisions for adults who have been found mentally incapable
- acts as Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) of last resort to make substitute treatment or long-term care admission decisions for incapable individuals
- holds funds in trust for minors and plaintiffs and defendants involved in a lawsuit
- administers estates when no one else is available to do so
- protects the public’s interest in charities and dissolved corporations
- provides other services to protect the financial, legal and personal care of mentally incapable Ontarians
If you suspect that a person may be incapable and at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, call the OPGT’s Investigations line at 416-327-6348.
Pro Bono Ontario hotline
1-855-255-7256
Pro Bono Ontario is a non-profit organization committed to helping Ontarians with their everyday civil legal needs. If you can’t afford a lawyer, call our Free Legal Advice Hotline for up to 30 minutes of free legal advice and assistance with civil law matters in Ontario (no family law, immigration or criminal).The Hotline accepts calls from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The agency helps people in creating a Power of Attorney as well as answer legal questions about Powers of Attorney.
For support creating a Power of Attorney, call Monday to Friday mornings, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
South Asian Legal Clinic (SALCO)
416-487-6371
A legal clinic for low-income south Asians in Ontario and provides services in a number of areas of law including immigration, tenancy, employment, income supports, and other areas. On-site languages:English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Punjabi and Kannada. Interpretation can be provided in: Gujarati, Malayalam and several other South Asian languages.
