Power of Attorney in Manitoba: Enduring POA and Health Care Directives

Manitoba keeps property and health decisions in two completely separate documents, and its enduring power of attorney has the strictest witnessing rule found in this research: only a short list of professionals, such as a lawyer, notary, judge, doctor, or police officer, may witness one, with no option for an ordinary adult witness at all.

Information last verified on 2026-08-15. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Two Separate Documents, Not One

Manitoba keeps financial and health decisions in two entirely different statutes, and the split is more rigid here than in most other provinces covered in this research. The enduring power of attorney (EPOA), made under The Powers of Attorney Act (C.C.S.M. c. P97), covers only the donor's estate, the Act's own term for property and financial affairs. Every operative provision of the Act, including its definitions, is built around that estate concept, and no personal-care or personal-affairs authority appears anywhere in the text. That makes Manitoba's split stricter than Saskatchewan's, where the EPOA can still name a personal attorney for non-health matters, and stricter than British Columbia's broader instrument design.

Health care decisions instead go through The Health Care Directives Act (C.C.S.M. c. H27), using a health care directive and, if one is appointed, a proxy. This is a completely separate statute from the EPOA Act, with its own execution rules, its own eligibility rules, and its own termination rules.

The correct terminology for Manitoba is therefore an enduring power of attorney, whose holder is called an attorney, for property and financial matters only, and a health care directive, whose holder, if appointed, is called a proxy, for health matters only. Do not describe a Manitoba EPOA as covering personal affairs the way a British Columbia or even a Saskatchewan description might read; the Act's own "estate" definition rules that out.

Making an Enduring Power of Attorney

Under section 10(3), an EPOA is void if the donor was mentally incapable, at execution, of understanding the nature and effect of the document, a single-clause capacity standard rather than an itemized test. Section 10(1) sets out what makes the authority survive the donor's later mental incompetence, which is what makes it "enduring": the document must be in writing; signed by the donor, or the donor must acknowledge their signature, in the presence of a witness; signed by that witness in the donor's presence; and it must expressly state that it continues despite the donor's later mental incompetence. Under section 10(2), if the donor cannot read or sign, someone else, other than the attorney or the attorney's spouse or common-law partner, may sign on the donor's behalf at the donor's direction and in the donor's presence, with the donor acknowledging the signature before a qualified witness.

The witnessing rule in section 11 is the single most distinctive execution requirement found across every province in this research. Manitoba does not let just any capable adult witness an EPOA. Instead, a witness must fall into one of these categories: a person registered or qualified to solemnize marriages under The Marriage Act; a superior court judge; a justice of the peace or provincial judge; a duly qualified medical practitioner; a notary public; a lawyer entitled to practise in Manitoba; an RCMP member; or a police officer with a Manitoba police service. Only one witness is required, but that one witness must come from this closed list. Section 11(2) also bars the named attorney and the attorney's spouse or common-law partner from acting as witness, on top of the professional-category restriction.

Section 10.1 permits remote or electronic witnessing for people authorized under regulation, following a process the regulations set out. Section 12 lets a donor or attorney file a copy of the EPOA with Manitoba's Public Guardian and Trustee, but this is optional ("may," not "must") and stated directly in the Act itself, unlike some other provinces where a registry exists only through separate regulation-making power. Section 2(2) confirms that the witness-eligibility rule in section 11 and the attorney-eligibility rule in section 16 do not apply retroactively to EPOAs signed before those provisions came into force, relevant only if you are reviewing an older document rather than making a new one.

Making a Health Care Directive

The Health Care Directives Act uses a different, looser approach to both age and witnessing than the EPOA Act. Under section 4(1) and (2), anyone with capacity to make health care decisions may make a directive; a person 16 or older is presumed to have that capacity, and a person under 16 is presumed not to, though both presumptions can be rebutted.

Section 8(1) and (2) require the directive to be in writing and dated, signed by the maker, or by someone else at the maker's direction and presence, provided that signer is not a proxy named in the directive or the proxy's spouse or common-law partner. If someone else signs, the maker must acknowledge the signature before a witness who is also not a named proxy or the proxy's spouse or partner, and that witness signs in the maker's presence. Only one witness is required, and, unlike the EPOA, there is no restriction to a professional witness category. Any qualifying adult who is not a named proxy or the proxy's spouse or partner can witness a health care directive, a genuine internal difference between Manitoba's two Acts worth keeping straight: the financial instrument restricts witnesses to professionals, and the health instrument does not. Section 8.1 permits remote witnessing for regulation-authorized persons, mirroring the EPOA's approach.

Under section 12, a proxy must be apparently mentally competent and at least 18 years old, with no exception for a married minor, unlike Saskatchewan's rule allowing a married non-adult to act as proxy for their own spouse. Section 14 limits what a proxy can consent to unless the directive expressly says otherwise: a proxy cannot consent to treatment whose primary purpose is research, non-medically-necessary sterilization, or removal of living tissue for transplant or for medical education or research.

Springing and Enduring Are Two Separate Concepts Here

Manitoba's Act structures timing differently from the other provinces in this research. It has a distinct part headed "Springing Powers of Attorney" (sections 6 through 9), separate from the "Enduring Powers of Attorney" part (sections 10 through 25.1). A springing power of attorney is a defined term for one that comes into force at a future time or on a contingency, which is analytically separate from whether a power of attorney endures, meaning survives the donor's later incapacity once it is already in force. A single document can combine both: it can spring into effect on a contingency and then continue to operate through later incapacity. This article does not describe the exact mechanics of how a contingency under sections 6 through 9 is declared or confirmed, because that operative text was not verified in the research behind this article; if your document depends on a springing trigger, read sections 6 through 9 directly or confirm the mechanism with a lawyer before relying on it.

A health care directive, by contrast, is inherently springing by design under section 6(1) and (2): it becomes effective only when the maker ceases to have capacity for the specific proposed treatment, or is unable to communicate their wishes about it, and it remains effective only for as long as that incapacity or inability lasts. Capacity can be treatment-specific and time-specific, meaning a person can be capable for some decisions and not others, or capable at one time and not another.

Attorney Duties and Accounting

Section 19(1) creates a positive duty: an attorney who knows, or reasonably should know, that the donor is mentally incompetent must act on the donor's behalf during that incompetence, once the attorney has accepted the appointment or already acted and the EPOA has not ended. Sections 19(2) and (3) apply two different standards of care depending on whether the attorney is paid. An uncompensated attorney must exercise the judgment and care that a person of prudence, discretion, and intelligence would exercise in their own affairs, a personal standard. A compensated attorney must meet the higher standard expected of a person of prudence, discretion, and intelligence in the business of managing other people's property, a professional standard. Section 20 makes an attorney who fails this duty liable to the donor for resulting loss, and section 21 bars an attorney under an active duty to act from renouncing the appointment without leave of the court.

Section 22 requires an accounting of the estate while the section 19(1) duty applies. It goes on demand to anyone the donor named in the EPOA to receive one, or, if no one was named, or that person is the attorney, the attorney's spouse or partner, deceased, or incompetent, annually to the donor's nearest relative, a defined order running from spouse or common-law partner, to child, grandchild, great-grandchild, parent, sibling, niece or nephew, and finally the Public Guardian and Trustee if none of those qualify. Section 22(1.1) adds a Manitoba-specific disclosure duty: the accounting must also note any beneficiary designation the attorney made under The Beneficiary Designation Act for retirement, savings, or other registered plans. Section 22(2) confirms the attorney cannot count as their own nearest-relative recipient, and section 22(3) confirms a recipient has no liability for reviewing the accounting.

Section 23 permits the attorney to use the donor's estate to satisfy the donor's own legal support obligation to another person, which can include the attorney personally if the attorney is a legal support recipient, such as a dependent spouse. This is narrower than a general family-benefit power; it applies only where the donor already has a legal support obligation.

This article does not describe a Manitoba gift-authorization rule, a will-making prohibition, or a delegation restriction for the EPOA, because none of the sections reviewed for this article contained one. That is not necessarily the same as confirming Manitoba's Act is silent on all three; it means those specific provisions, if they exist elsewhere in the Act, were not located in this research and should be confirmed with a lawyer before you assume the wider defaults used in other provinces apply here.

Health Care Directive Decision-Making

Section 13 sets a four-tier hierarchy for a proxy's decisions: first, follow decisions the maker actually wrote into the directive; second, absent a written decision, follow known wishes the maker expressed while capable that the proxy believes the maker would still act on; third, if the maker's known wishes are more recent than the directive's own written decisions, the more recent wishes override the directive; fourth, absent any known wishes, act in what the proxy believes are the maker's best interests. Section 16 bars a proxy from delegating their authority, with no override language. Section 17 lets a court suspend or terminate a proxy's appointment and rescind or replace the proxy's decisions if the court finds the proxy is not acting in good faith. Section 24 confirms that acting as a witness or a proxy, or being a proxy's spouse or partner, does not disqualify that person from a will bequest, life insurance proceeds, or an Intestate Succession Act share.

Ending an EPOA or a Health Care Directive

Under section 13, an attorney's authority ends if a property substitute decision-maker is appointed for the donor under The Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability Act; if the Public Guardian and Trustee or another committee takes over the donor's estate by court order under The Mental Health Act; if the donor becomes bankrupt, unless the EPOA states otherwise; if the attorney becomes bankrupt, mentally incompetent, or dies; if the attorney renounces and notifies the donor, subject to needing court leave under section 21 while an active duty to act applies; on the donor's death; or if a court terminates the EPOA. Manitoba's list does not include marriage or relationship breakdown as an automatic ending trigger the way Saskatchewan's does, and it is not clear from the Act's text reviewed whether that is addressed elsewhere; do not assume a Manitoba EPOA automatically ends on separation or divorce. (See our guide to common-law relationships in Manitoba for how the province defines a spousal or common-law relationship.) Section 14 provides that an EPOA is suspended, not ended, if an emergency substitute decision-maker is appointed under The Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability Act, until that emergency appointment expires. Section 15 protects an attorney's actions taken during a suspension or after termination if the attorney reasonably believed the EPOA was still in effect at the time.

A health care directive, under section 9, can be revoked while the maker has capacity, by a later directive, by a later writing meeting the same execution formalities and declaring an intent to revoke, or by destroying all signed original copies with that intent, either by the maker or by someone else at the maker's direction and in the maker's presence. Section 9(2) automatically revokes a spouse's appointment as proxy if the maker's marriage later ends by divorce or is annulled by a court, unless the directive states otherwise.

Misuse and Offences

Section 27 of the Health Care Directives Act makes it an offence to wilfully conceal, cancel, obliterate, damage, alter, falsify, or forge a directive or its revocation without the maker's consent, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both. Unlike Saskatchewan's equivalent offence, Manitoba's provision does not separately criminalize coercing someone into making a directive, and a conviction does not carry a forfeiture consequence against the person's inheritance.

No government filing or registration fee for creating either an EPOA or a health care directive was found in either Act's text. Section 12's optional filing with the Public Guardian and Trustee does not state a fee in the Act itself, and a direct attempt to reach a Manitoba Public Guardian and Trustee power-of-attorney fee page during this research returned a not-found error, so this article does not state a filing fee figure either way. Confirm current fee information directly with Manitoba's Public Guardian and Trustee.

Out-of-Province Recognition

Section 25 of the Powers of Attorney Act recognizes a power of attorney executed outside Manitoba as an enduring power of attorney here if it was valid under the law of the place where it was made and it provides that it continues despite the donor's later mental incompetence, the same two-part test used elsewhere in Canada. Section 10 of the Health Care Directives Act uses the same pattern for directives: a directive made outside Manitoba that meets the Act's requirements is deemed to be a directive made under it.

For the general Canada-wide picture of how powers of attorney work, including revocation and ending on death, see power of attorney in Canada. A power of attorney's authority ends the moment the donor dies, and the will and its executor take over from there; see making a will in Canada and executor duties in Canada for what follows. For Manitoba's western neighbour, see power of attorney in Saskatchewan.

Disclaimer

This article explains Manitoba's general framework for enduring powers of attorney and health care directives for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Several points are deliberately left unconfirmed rather than guessed at: the exact mechanics of how a contingency under the Act's springing-power-of-attorney provisions (sections 6 through 9) is declared or confirmed; whether the Act contains a gift-authorization provision, a will-making prohibition, or a delegation restriction beyond what is described above; whether marriage or common-law relationship breakdown affects an attorney's authority outside the Act's stated termination list; and whether the Public Guardian and Trustee charges any fee to accept a filed power of attorney. Execution rules and eligibility requirements change. Confirm current requirements with Manitoba's Public Guardian and Trustee or a licensed lawyer before signing or relying on any power of attorney or health care directive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can witness a power of attorney in Manitoba?

Only someone from a closed list: a person authorized to solemnize marriages, a superior court judge, a justice of the peace or provincial judge, a medical practitioner, a notary public, a lawyer entitled to practise in Manitoba, an RCMP member, or a municipal or provincial police officer. An ordinary friend or family member cannot witness a Manitoba enduring power of attorney, even though only one witness is required.

Does Manitoba's power of attorney cover health care decisions?

No. Manitoba's enduring power of attorney, made under The Powers of Attorney Act, covers only the donor's estate, meaning property and financial affairs. Health care decisions are governed entirely separately by The Health Care Directives Act, through a health care directive and a proxy.

Is a Manitoba health care directive witnessed the same way as the power of attorney?

No. A health care directive can be witnessed by any qualifying person who is not the named proxy or the proxy's spouse or common-law partner, with no restriction to a professional category. The power of attorney's witness list is much stricter.

Do I have to register my power of attorney in Manitoba?

No. Filing a copy with the Public Guardian and Trustee is optional under section 12 of the Act. This article does not state a filing fee because an official fee page could not be confirmed in this research; check directly with the Public Guardian and Trustee.

Does an attorney get paid for acting in Manitoba?

The Act contemplates compensation and applies a higher standard of care to a paid attorney than to an unpaid one, but the specific sections reviewed for this article did not include a section stating how compensation is authorized or capped. Confirm compensation arrangements directly with a lawyer.

Does divorce automatically end a Manitoba power of attorney?

The Act's termination list does not include marriage or relationship breakdown as an automatic ending trigger for an enduring power of attorney, unlike some other provinces. For a health care directive specifically, a spouse's appointment as proxy is automatically revoked if the marriage ends by divorce or annulment, unless the directive states otherwise.