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Representation Agreements in British Columbia are versatile documents that can either authorize a person to help the dependent adult make decisions or authorize a person (known as the representative) to make decisions on his or her own on behalf of the dependent adult. This is the choice of the dependent adult at the time he or she signs the document. The dependent adult has to expressly state in the document what he or she wants the role of the representative to be.

The dependent adult maintains a great deal of control over the document. He or she may give the representative power to make personal- and health-care decisions normally associated with guardianship or to make financial decisions normally associated with trusteeship or both. The dependent adult will identify the areas in which he or she needs assistance. This person can give different people the authority to make different decisions.

The dependent adult may appoint the following as his or her representative:

• The Public Guardian and Trustee.

• A credit union or trust company. This can only be done as long as the decisions made by the credit union or trust company are strictly financial decisions and not personal- or health-related decisions.

• An individual person. If the dependent person appoints an individual, the dependent adult must also appoint a monitor unless the individual appointed was a spouse, or at least two individuals are appointed who must act jointly. The monitor’s job is to ensure that the representative is acting honestly, diligently, and prudently, and is consulting with the dependent adult where possible and is not acting outside his or her authority.

As with the other alternatives to court-appointed guardianship and trusteeship that are discussed in this chapter, the Representation Agreement allows a dependent adult to maintain some control over his or her own affairs. Having an agreement in place is much less intrusive than a court order. The Representation Act of British Columbia specifically says that the law was put into place to avoid the need for court applications to appoint guardians and trustees.