Enduring Guardianship and Advance Care Directives in Australia

Separately from financial powers of attorney, most Australian states and territories let a person appoint someone to make personal, lifestyle and health care decisions on their behalf if they lose capacity, under names including Enduring Guardianship, Advance Care Directive and Advance Health Directive.

Financial Decisions and Personal Decisions Are Different Powers

An enduring power of attorney and an instrument covering personal, lifestyle and health care decisions are legally distinct, even where a single document happens to combine them. The financial instrument, covered in Enduring Power of Attorney in Australia, authorises an attorney to manage money, property and legal matters. The personal and health instrument authorises a different kind of decision entirely: where the person lives, their day-to-day care, and consent to or refusal of medical treatment. Several jurisdictions, New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia among them, keep this personal and health authority in a document separate from, or at least conceptually distinct from, the financial power, while Queensland and the Northern Territory combine both kinds of authority into a single instrument.

The Instrument in Each Jurisdiction

New South Wales: Enduring Guardianship

In New South Wales, personal and health care decision-making authority is appointed through an Enduring Guardianship, made under the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW), entirely separate from the state's financial Enduring Power of Attorney. An enduring guardian can be given authority over decisions including where the person lives, what health care and other personal services they receive, and consent to medical or dental treatment, and the appointment continues even after the person loses the capacity to make those decisions themselves.

Western Australia: Enduring Power of Guardianship

Western Australia follows the same two-document structure as New South Wales but under different legislation. A Western Australian Enduring Power of Guardianship, made under Part 9A of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990 (WA), authorises the appointed enduring guardian to make personal, lifestyle and treatment decisions, kept separate from the state's financial Enduring Power of Attorney. Both instruments sit in the same Act: the enduring power of attorney is Part 9 of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990 (WA), sections 104 and 105, while the enduring power of guardianship is Part 9A and advance health directives are Part 9B.

Victoria and South Australia: Advance Care Directives

Victoria and South Australia both use an Advance Care Directive for health and personal care decisions, though the two states structure the surrounding documents differently. Victoria's Advance Care Directive, made under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic), sits alongside a Victorian Enduring Power of Attorney that can itself already combine financial and general personal decision-making, so a Victorian principal may end up with both a combined enduring power of attorney and a separate Advance Care Directive for medical treatment specifically. South Australia's Advance Care Directive is separate from its financial-only Enduring Power of Attorney under the Powers of Attorney and Agency Act 1984 (SA), and covers both future health care wishes and the appointment of substitute decision makers for personal and health matters.

Queensland: The Advance Health Directive and Its Capacity Certificate

Queensland's position is different from the rest of the country in two ways. First, its single Enduring Power of Attorney already covers personal and health matters, so a separate personal-decision document is not strictly needed the way it is in New South Wales or Western Australia. Second, Queensland also offers an Advance Health Directive, used to record specific health care wishes and directions in advance rather than to appoint a decision maker, and this directive requires a treating doctor's or nurse practitioner's certificate confirming the person understood the nature and effect of what they were signing at the time. Neither Queensland's Enduring Power of Attorney nor most other jurisdictions' personal-decision instruments carry an equivalent medical capacity-certificate requirement, which makes Queensland's Advance Health Directive process meaningfully different to prepare.

Who Can Be Appointed and Witnessing

Most jurisdictions require the person appointed under an enduring guardianship, advance care directive or equivalent instrument to be an adult, and most disqualify a person who is a paid carer or health provider for the principal from being appointed, to avoid an obvious conflict of interest, though the exact disqualifying categories differ by jurisdiction. Witnessing requirements generally mirror the financial enduring power of attorney requirements in the same state or territory, commonly two independent witnesses, though the specific eligibility rules for who can witness, and any additional certification (as in Queensland), are set out separately in each jurisdiction's own Act and should be checked directly before a document is signed.

Preparing These Documents

As with a financial enduring power of attorney, this guide does not generate a completed enduring guardianship, advance care directive or advance health directive for a specific person. Each jurisdiction has its own prescribed form, its own witnessing and, in Queensland's case, capacity-certification requirements, and getting these wrong can mean the document has no legal effect when it is needed most. Every state and territory's Public Trustee, public advocate or guardianship tribunal publishes the official form and guidance for its own jurisdiction, and a solicitor can prepare the document as part of a broader estate plan alongside a will and an enduring power of attorney. See the Australia Wills and Probate hub for the full set of national and state guides.

This article provides general legal information about enduring guardianship, advance care directives and advance health directives in Australia. It is not legal advice and does not take into account your individual circumstances, and it does not provide a document template or generator. Instrument names, scope and witnessing or certification requirements differ between New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This information was last verified on 20 July 2026. For help preparing one of these documents, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant state or territory, or that jurisdiction’s Public Trustee or public advocate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is enduring guardianship?

An appointment, used in New South Wales under the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW), of a person to make personal, lifestyle and health care decisions on the principal’s behalf if they lose capacity, separate from a financial enduring power of attorney.

Is enduring guardianship the same as an enduring power of attorney?

No. An enduring power of attorney generally covers financial and legal decisions. Enduring guardianship, and its equivalents such as an Advance Care Directive, covers personal, lifestyle and health care decisions. Some jurisdictions, including Queensland and the Northern Territory, combine both into a single instrument.

What does Victoria use for health decisions?

An Advance Care Directive, made under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (Vic), which sits alongside Victoria’s Enduring Power of Attorney (which can itself cover general financial and personal decisions).

What is unique about Queensland’s Advance Health Directive?

It requires a treating doctor’s or nurse practitioner’s certificate confirming the person understood what they were signing, a requirement that most other jurisdictions’ personal or health-decision instruments do not carry.

What does Western Australia call its personal decision-making instrument?

An Enduring Power of Guardianship, made under Part 9A of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990 (WA), kept separate from the state’s financial Enduring Power of Attorney.

Can the same person be my financial attorney and my enduring guardian?

Generally yes, if permitted under the relevant jurisdiction’s Act, but the two roles do not have to be the same person, and some principals deliberately choose different people for financial decisions and for personal and health decisions.

Who cannot be appointed as an enduring guardian or under an advance care directive?

Most jurisdictions disqualify a paid carer or health provider for the principal from being appointed, to avoid a conflict of interest, though the exact disqualifying categories are set separately in each jurisdiction’s Act.

Do I need a doctor involved to make an advance care directive?

It depends on the jurisdiction and the specific document. Queensland’s Advance Health Directive requires a doctor’s or nurse practitioner’s capacity certificate; other jurisdictions’ equivalent instruments generally do not carry the same requirement, though good practice often involves discussing health wishes with a doctor regardless.