Enduring Guardian

An Enduring Guardian makes the personal and health decisions an attorney cannot — where you live, what care or medical treatment you receive, and similar lifestyle matters — if you lose capacity. It is the personal-decisions counterpart to an Enduring Power of Attorney, which covers only finances. Together the two documents cover both halves of life if you become unable to decide for yourself. An Enduring Guardian is different from a guardian named in your Will to raise your young children after you die.

You appoint an Enduring Guardian while you have capacity, in your state's prescribed form, and you can give specific directions such as a preference to stay at home rather than enter residential care. Example: Lien appointed her husband as Enduring Guardian with a written wish that she remain at home with support for as long as it is safe. The terminology differs by state — it is an "Enduring Guardian" in NSW, but elsewhere these decisions sit within an Enduring Power of Attorney (Personal) or an Advance Care Directive.