A Revocation of Power of Attorney is a legal document used to cancel or revoke an existing Power of Attorney (POA).

Whoever you named as your attorney (the person you selected to manage your affairs) can continue to legally act on your behalf until their powers are officially revoked. As the principal (the person who is granting power to the attorney), it is within your rights to revoke your attorney's powers at any time for any reason provided you have the capacity to do so.

LawDepot's Revocation of Power of Attorney form can be customised for:

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Tasmania
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Victoria
• Western Australia

Capacity, or competency, refers to your mental state and ability at the time of the legal document's execution. For you to have legal authority to execute documents such as a Revocation of Power of Attorney, you must be of sound mind.

To revoke a Power of Attorney and cancel your appointed attorney's powers to act on your behalf:

• You should complete a Revocation of Power of Attorney document.
• To be effective, your attorney must be notified of the revocation. The best way to achieve this is to deliver the completed, signed, and witnessed revocation form to the attorney whose powers are being revoked so they have written confirmation that their powers have ended. Double-registered mail or hand-delivery are the best options to ensure the attorney receives the document.
• It's recommended that you ask your attorney(s) to return all copies of the original Power of Attorney form and mark them as "revoked" to ensure they can't be used again.

It should be noted that you are not required to offer an explanation for revoking your attorney's powers, and it's recommended that you make the change known to anyone who may have a copy of the previous POA (for example, your lawyer, banker, physician, etc.).

A Revocation of Power of Attorney should only be used to revoke your existing Power of Attorney.

Some reasons you might want to revoke your POA include:

• The POA is no longer needed because you can act for yourself: perhaps you made a POA for a specific purpose like for when you were out of the country, and now you have returned
• The attorney is no longer fit to act for you: maybe you've discovered they are untrustworthy or careless with your affairs
• The attorney can no longer effectively act on your behalf: for example, if your attorney moves out of the country, or it is no longer practical for them to act as your attorney
• You wish to appoint a new attorney: for example, if your attorney was your spouse, you may want to revoke their powers if you've divorced

Keep in mind that some states and territories require a Power of Attorney be registered with the Land Titles Office or Recorder of Titles, especially if the attorney might be making decisions that affect real property.

If your POA was registered, you will have to unregister it when you revoke it. Usually this involves submitting your revocation document to the Land Titles Office, but there might be additional paperwork depending on your state or territory.

To be effective, a Revocation of Power of Attorney does not need to be notarised. However, some people use a notary as one of their witnesses.

The requirements for witnesses can vary between each of the Australian states and territories.

Generally, a witness should be:

• 18 years of age or older
• Mentally capable of making their own decisions (have capacity)
• A non-relative (except in the Australian Capital Territory that allows one of the two witnesses to be a relative)
• A person authorised to make statutory declarations (not required in all states)

It's recommended that you avoid using a witness who has a financial relationship with you. Also anyone named in the document or someone signing the POA on your behalf cannot be used as a witness.

There are many people who are authorised witnesses under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 who can act as a witness. A person authorised to make such a declaration (other than a notary public) includes licensed professionals who are registered to practise in Australia, like chiropractors, dentists, legal practitioners, and more.

Be sure to check the requirements for witnesses for your region before completing the form.

Generally, you only need witness certificates (in addition to regular witness signatures) when revoking an enduring Power of Attorney because of its nature as a POA that continues even after the principal loses capacity.

The witness acknowledgments offer assurance under oath that you are mentally capable of understanding the document.