Does a power of attorney survive a cost benefit analysis? Maybe not for a young person.

Nailing down the cost end of the analysis would require calling around to lawyers and notaries to find out their rates, which I haven’t done. However, a bit of Internet searching led me to a handful of lawyer and notary websites. Listed fees for a single power of attorney ranged from $225 to $425. I found it interesting the cheapest rate was from a lawyer and most expensive from a notary, but this was a very small sample.

The absolute cheapest is the “do-it-yourself” option, which I wrote about in my column published March 10, 2024. I included a link to a free, online form provided by the Province of British Columbia. I’ve since learned, though, that some organizations might not honour a do-it-yourself document, even if the document is perfectly valid under the law. I intend to dig deeper and write specifically about that issue in a future column.

Because of my lack of market research, I will shoot low and assume a power of attorney is going to cost you at least $200, inclusive of taxes and........

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