How Much Does an Enduring Guardianship Cost?

An Enduring Guardianship is a legal document that allows an individual known as the appointor, to appoint another person or persons, known as the guardian or guardians, to make personal, healthcare and lifestyle decisions on their behalf. This document only comes into effect if the appointor loses mental capacity and the ability to make decisions for themselves. The Enduring Guardianship document can help provide comfort that a trusted person has been appointed to help the appointer, when they are unable to make decisions for themselves.

Key aspects of an Enduring Guardianship include:

1. Scope of Authority: The guardian is appointed to make decisions about the appointor’s living arrangements, healthcare and some other personal matters. They cannot make decisions about the appointor’s legal and financial matters, unless they have also been appointed as a Power of Attorney.
2. Activation: The guardian only has authority to make decisions if and when the appointor loses mental capacity.
3. Revocation: The appointor can revoke the Enduring Guardianship at any time as long as they have capacity to do so.
4. Legal Requirements: The document needs to be signed by an eligible witness such as a legal practitioner or a registrar of a local court for it to be valid.  

Generally, the cost of an Enduring Guardianship can range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of the document and professional fees involved. The cost of an Enduring Guardianship can be influenced by:

1. Legal Fees: A solicitor will charge legal fees to draft an Enduring Guardianship. The fees will depend on the complexity of the document.
2. Witnessing Fees: Enduring Guardianship documents need to be signed by an eligible witness. There may be additional fees associated with witnessing a document.  
3. Additional Services: There may be additional fees, if you require further legal advice or amendments to the document.
4. Complexity of the Arrangement:  There may be additional fees if complex arrangements or specific instructions are added into the document.

 Prices at PW Lawyers

At PW Lawyers we provide the full service of meeting with you to explain the effect of an Enduring Guardianship document. We then draft the documents and meet with you again to go through and witness your signature. Once the document is executed, we can contact your guardian and meet with them to explain their role and responsibilities and then witness their acceptance of the appointment. We charge $440 (for a single person) for this service, and we do not charge your guardian anything when we meet with them to witness their acceptance. For the same service we charge $660 for a couple.

Bundle and Save

If you want to get both your Enduring Guardianship and Power of Attorney documents prepared and witnessed by a solicitor, we provide a bundle package (including the NSW Advanced Care Directive) for $660 for a single person and $990 for a couple.

Contact us for a free thirty-minute initial consultation with one of our team who specialises in Enduring Guardian documents. 

Any information on this website is general in nature and should not be taken as personal legal advice. We recommend that you speak to a lawyer about your personal circumstances.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: