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

Saskatchewan lets one enduring power of attorney appoint a property attorney, a personal attorney, or both for financial and non-health personal affairs, but every health care decision runs through a separate health care directive under a different Act, never through the enduring power of attorney.

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

Two Different Documents Under Two Different Acts

For the concepts that work the same way in every province, see our national power of attorney guide. Saskatchewan splits authority over an incapable adult's affairs between two separate statutes, and the split is enforced explicitly in both Acts' own text. The Powers of Attorney Act, 2002 (SS 2002, c P-20.3) governs the enduring power of attorney (EPOA), which can cover property and financial matters and non-health personal affairs. The Health Care Directives and Substitute Health Care Decision Makers Act, 2015 (SS 2015, c H-0.002, in force February 15, 2017) governs the separate health care directive.

The boundary between the two is not left to interpretation. Section 23(5) of the Health Care Directives Act states that an enduring power of attorney does not give the attorney authority to make health care decisions under that Act. Section 2.1 of the Powers of Attorney Act states, in the same direction, that the Act does not apply to health care decisions governed by the Health Care Directives Act. Even though the EPOA statute uses the words "personal attorney" and "personal affairs," those terms cover non-health matters only. Every health care consent or refusal in Saskatchewan runs through a health care directive, a proxy appointed under one, or, if neither exists, a statutory hierarchy of substitute decision-makers set out in the Health Care Directives Act itself.

That means the terminology to use in Saskatchewan is an enduring power of attorney with a property attorney and/or a personal attorney, and, separately, a health care directive with a proxy. Saskatchewan does not use British Columbia's "representation agreement" or Alberta's "personal directive," and its "personal attorney" role is narrower than either of those instruments because it excludes health care entirely.

Making an Enduring Power of Attorney

Under section 4, any adult with the capacity to understand the nature and effect of an EPOA may grant one. Section 4.1 lets the grantor appoint a property attorney, a personal attorney, or the same person as both; if the document is silent and was made on or after the 2004 amendment, the attorney named is deemed to hold both roles by default, the opposite of a split-instrument approach.

Execution has two layers. Under section 11(1), the EPOA must be in writing, dated, and signed by the grantor, or, if the grantor directs someone else to sign on their behalf, that signer cannot be the attorney or a family member of the grantor or attorney, and must sign in the grantor's presence and a witness's presence. "Family member" is defined broadly in section 2(1) to include a spouse, child, parent or legal guardian, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt or uncle, and niece or nephew, including step and adoptive relationships, and that same list is barred from witnessing.

The witnessing rule itself, section 12(1), is the most distinctive execution requirement found in this research across the provinces reviewed. An EPOA is valid only if it is witnessed either by a lawyer, together with a prescribed-form legal advice and witness certificate, or by two adults with capacity who are not the attorney or family members of the grantor or attorney, together with prescribed-form witness certificates. Either path requires an accompanying certificate, not just a signature. Section 5 confirms that using a prescribed form, where one exists, is not mandatory.

Who Cannot Act as an Attorney

Section 6 sets out limits on who may act as attorney that go further than most other provinces. A person cannot act as attorney if they are under 18 or lack capacity; if they are an undischarged bankrupt appointed as a property attorney; or if they were convicted within the last 10 years of an offence involving assault, sexual assault, other violence, intimidation, criminal harassment, uttering threats, theft, fraud, or breach of trust, unless they were pardoned or the grantor was told of the conviction while capable and consented to it in writing under section 6(2). A person also cannot act as attorney if their occupation or business involves providing the grantor personal care or health care services for pay, a categorical bar on paid caregivers acting as attorney.

Section 8 allows a corporate attorney to be appointed, subject to regulations, and requires the corporate attorney's fees to be disclosed to the grantor in writing before the grantor signs the EPOA.

Health Care Directives and Proxies

The Health Care Directives Act sets a lower age threshold than the EPOA. Under section 3, any person 16 years of age or older with capacity to make a health care decision may make a directive. Section 6(2) requires the directive to be in writing, dated, and signed by the maker (or by someone else at the maker's direction, so long as that signer is not the proxy or the proxy's spouse) in the presence of a witness who is also not the proxy or the proxy's spouse, with the witness signing in the maker's presence. Only one witness is required, unlike the EPOA's certificate-backed dual track. Section 6(5) permits remote or electronic witnessing specifically when the witness is a lawyer who takes reasonable steps to verify identity and content and follows Law Society of Saskatchewan requirements.

Under section 11, a proxy must be an adult with capacity to make health care decisions, except that a married person under 18 with capacity may be appointed proxy for their own spouse. Section 14 bars a proxy from delegating their authority, with no override language. Section 10 confirms any prescribed form is optional, not mandatory.

A health care directive functions differently from the EPOA in one more important way: under section 4, it only takes effect once the maker actually lacks capacity for the specific health care decision at hand, and it stops applying automatically if the maker recovers that capacity. It cannot be drafted to operate immediately while the maker is still capable, the way an EPOA can.

When the EPOA Takes Effect

Under section 8.1, an EPOA takes effect on execution unless it is drafted as a contingent appointment under section 9, which can specify a future date or a contingency, including the grantor's loss of capacity. If a contingency is used, section 9.1 lets the grantor name one or more people, other than the attorney or the attorney's family members, whose written declaration conclusively establishes that the contingency occurred. If no one is named, or the named people cannot act, section 9.2 provides that incapacity is conclusively deemed to have occurred once two members of a prescribed professional group declare it in writing. For a contingency other than incapacity, section 9.4 allows the public guardian and trustee or an interested person to ask a court for a declaration that it occurred. Section 10 protects a third party or the attorney who relies in good faith on such a declaration.

Duties, Gifts, and Fees

Section 15 holds an attorney to a duty of honesty, good faith, and acting in the grantor's best interests, applying the care that could be expected of someone with the attorney's own experience and expertise, a subjective standard, and requires the attorney to consider the grantor's wishes wherever possible.

Unless the EPOA says otherwise, section 16 lets a property attorney provide for the maintenance, education, or benefit of the grantor's spouse and dependent children, including the attorney personally if the attorney is the grantor's spouse. Section 16(2) expressly prohibits a property attorney from making or changing the grantor's will.

Section 16.1, added in 2014, restricts gifts from the grantor's estate: unless the EPOA specifically permits gifting, a property attorney cannot make a gift unless the gifted amount is not needed for the grantor's or their dependants' needs, the attorney has reasonable grounds based on the grantor's own past capable conduct to believe the grantor would make the gift, and the gift does not exceed a prescribed amount set by regulation. This article does not state that dollar ceiling because it was not confirmed against the regulation text; confirm the current figure with a lawyer or the Public Guardian and Trustee before relying on a specific number. A court can authorize a larger gift under section 16.1(3) if satisfied it is appropriate.

Section 17 sets out a default fee mechanism: an attorney cannot charge a fee unless the fee is set in the EPOA itself, a court orders one, or a prescribed fee schedule exists and the attorney charges no more than it allows. As with the gift ceiling, this article does not state the fee schedule's contents because they were not confirmed in the regulation text. If a fee is charged, section 17(3) requires an annual accounting in the prescribed form. Section 18 gives the grantor, or specified family members if the grantor is incapable, the right to request an accounting at other times, and the public guardian and trustee can be asked to direct or investigate one. On termination of the attorney's authority, section 18.1 requires a sworn final accounting within six months to the grantor's named person or family, any relevant substitute decision-maker, the estate's executor if the grantor died, and the public guardian and trustee, unless the attorney is the grantor's sole estate beneficiary. Unless the EPOA states otherwise, section 14(3) bars the attorney from delegating their authority.

On the health care side, section 12 requires a proxy to follow the maker's known wishes where possible, and otherwise to act in what the proxy believes are the maker's best interests. Section 25 confirms that acting as a witness, being appointed proxy, or being a proxy's spouse does not disqualify a person from a will bequest, life insurance proceeds, or a share on intestacy.

Ending an EPOA or a Health Care Directive

Under section 19, an attorney's authority ends on a date stated in the EPOA; on written revocation by a grantor capable of understanding both the EPOA and the effect of ending it; on the grantor's death; on the attorney's death or loss of capacity; on the attorney's written resignation; if the attorney no longer meets the section 6 eligibility rules, for EPOAs made after the 2004 amendment; if a guardianship decision-maker or public-guardian-and-trustee guardian is appointed over the same matters; under a Missing Persons and Presumption of Death Act order; or by court order after a finding of abuse. Saskatchewan also ends an EPOA automatically if the grantor and attorney are spouses who stop living together as spouses because they intend to end the relationship, an automatic marriage-breakdown trigger. (See our guide to common-law relationships in Saskatchewan for how the province defines a spousal relationship outside marriage.)

A health care directive, under section 7, is revocable orally, in writing, by destroying it, or by making a new one, either by the maker or by someone else at the maker's direction and in the maker's presence. Unless the directive says otherwise, section 7(2) automatically revokes a spouse's appointment as proxy if the marriage ends by divorce or is annulled by a court.

Misuse and Offences

Section 26 of the Health Care Directives Act makes it an offence to wilfully conceal, cancel, obliterate, damage, alter, falsify, or forge a directive without the maker's consent, or to coerce or pressure someone into making one, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to three months, or both. A person convicted under this section also loses any right to a will bequest, insurance proceeds, or an intestate share from the maker's estate.

Neither Act, in the text reviewed for this article, contains a government filing or registration fee for creating an EPOA or a health care directive, and neither establishes a government registry for these documents. If you need to confirm whether a registry exists, check directly with the Public Guardian and Trustee of Saskatchewan.

Out-of-Province Powers of Attorney and Directives

Section 13 of the Powers of Attorney Act recognizes an out-of-province power of attorney as a Saskatchewan enduring power of attorney if it was valid where it was made and it provides that the attorney's authority survives the grantor's later incapacity, including a contingent appointment made the same way. Section 8 of the Health Care Directives Act similarly deems a directive made outside Saskatchewan to be a directive under the Act if it complies with the Act's requirements.

For the general Canada-wide picture of how powers of attorney work, including revocation and ending on death, see power of attorney in Canada. Saskatchewan probate costs and executor duties after death are covered separately in Saskatchewan probate fees and executor duties in Canada; a power of attorney's authority ends the moment the grantor dies, and the will takes over from there, so see making a will in Canada for that next step. For Saskatchewan's neighbouring province, see power of attorney in Manitoba.

Disclaimer

This article explains Saskatchewan's general framework for enduring powers of attorney and health care directives for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Two specific figures are deliberately not stated because they could not be confirmed in the regulation text reviewed: the prescribed dollar ceiling on gifts a property attorney may make without express authorization, and the contents of the prescribed default fee schedule for attorney compensation. Whether Saskatchewan operates any government registry for these documents was also not confirmed and is not asserted either way. The Powers of Attorney Act text reviewed reflects amendments through 2015; confirm you are working from the current consolidation before relying on any specific section number. Execution rules and eligibility requirements change. Confirm current requirements with Saskatchewan'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

What is the difference between an enduring power of attorney and a health care directive in Saskatchewan?

The enduring power of attorney (EPOA), made under The Powers of Attorney Act, 2002, covers property and financial matters and non-health personal affairs, through a property attorney and/or a personal attorney. Health care decisions are handled entirely separately, under The Health Care Directives and Substitute Health Care Decision Makers Act, 2015, through a health care directive and a proxy. Both Acts say expressly that the EPOA does not extend to health care decisions.

How many witnesses does a Saskatchewan enduring power of attorney need?

It needs either a lawyer, together with a prescribed-form legal advice and witness certificate, or two adults with capacity who are not the attorney or family members of the grantor or attorney, together with prescribed-form witness certificates. Saskatchewan is unusual in requiring a certificate on either track, not just a signature.

Who is barred from acting as an attorney in Saskatchewan?

Section 6 bars anyone under 18 or lacking capacity, an undischarged bankrupt named as a property attorney, anyone convicted in the last 10 years of specified violent or dishonesty offences (unless pardoned or the grantor consented in writing after being told), and anyone whose paid occupation is providing the grantor personal or health care.

At what age can someone make a health care directive in Saskatchewan?

At 16, provided they have the capacity to make the specific health care decision. This is younger than the general adult standard used for an enduring power of attorney.

Can a Saskatchewan property attorney make gifts or change the grantor's will?

A property attorney cannot change or make the grantor's will under any circumstances. Gifts are restricted: unless the EPOA specifically permits gifting, a gift is only allowed if it is not needed for the grantor's or dependants' needs, the attorney has reasonable grounds to believe the grantor would make it, and it does not exceed a prescribed regulatory ceiling. This article does not state that ceiling because it was not confirmed in the regulation text.

Does getting married or divorced affect a Saskatchewan power of attorney?

Yes, in two different ways. An EPOA automatically ends if the grantor and attorney are spouses who stop living together with the intention of ending the relationship. Separately, a spouse's appointment as health care proxy is automatically revoked if the marriage later ends by divorce or annulment, unless the directive says otherwise.