The register of powers and estates

Most trust obligations announce themselves. Money arrives, it has to be banked, receipted and reconciled, and the work is visible every week.

The register of powers and estates is not like that. It is a standing list, and a practice can act under an enduring power for years without anything prompting somebody to write it down. Then an external examiner asks for the register by name, and the honest answer is that there is not one.

What the rule requires

A law practice must maintain a register of powers and estates in respect of which the law practice or an associate of the practice is acting or entitled to act, alone or jointly with the law practice or one or more associates of the practice, in relation to trust money.

Two phrases carry the weight. Acting or entitled to act puts a power on the register before any money moves: being appointed is enough, and waiting for the first transaction is too late. In relation to trust money is the limit, so a power that has nothing to do with trust money is outside this rule.

It also covers an associate of the practice, not only the practice. A principal appointed as executor in their own name, on a file the practice runs, is within it.

The exception

Subrule (1) does not apply where the law practice or associate is also required to act jointly with one or more persons who are not associates of the law practice.

Where you must act jointly with an outsider, such as a partner appointed executor alongside the deceased's daughter, the register is not required for that appointment. The reasoning is straightforward: the practice does not have sole control, so the protection the register provides sits elsewhere.

Note the word required. A joint appointment where each can act alone is not within the exception. Read the instrument rather than assuming from the number of names on it.

What the register has to record

The register of powers and estates must record the following: (a) particulars sufficient to identify each power in respect of which the law practice or an associate of the law practice is acting or entitled to act (alone or jointly with the law practice or one or more associates of the law practice), including the name and address of the donor and date of each power, (b) particulars sufficient to identify each estate in respect of which the law practice or an associate of the law practice is acting or entitled to act (alone or jointly with the law practice or one or more associates of the law practice), including the name and date of death of the deceased in respect of each estate of which the law practice or associate is executor or administrator.

So the minimum for a power is the donor's name, the donor's address and the date of the power. For an estate it is the name of the deceased and the date of death. Particulars sufficient to identify is the standard above those, and the named items are a floor rather than a complete answer.

The donor's address is the item most often absent, for the same reason it goes missing from a trust ledger title: nothing in the daily work needs it, so nobody collects it. It is also the hardest to find later, when the donor has lost capacity and the file has been archived.

The register is not the statement

Two separate obligations are easy to run together. Rule 60 is the standing list of appointments. Rule 52(2)(c) separately requires a statement for "each record of dealings with the money that is the subject of a power to which the law practice or an associate of the law practice is a party".

A complete register with no statements fails rule 52. Statements with no register fails rule 60. The two are connected in practice: the statement is only possible if the dealings under the power were recorded against something, which means the power has to be tied to a matter from the start. The trust account statements due after 30 June covers the statement side.

Keeping one that stays right

In Diract, Powers and Estates sits in the sidebar under Trust Account. Add Power records the matter, the Name of donor, the Address of donor and the Date of power, then the description and the solicitor responsible. A power is refused without the donor's address or the date, which is the rule's own floor enforced at the point of entry rather than at examination.

Add Estate records the matter, the Name of deceased and the Date of death, with the address and date of grant optional, and it checks the dates make sense: nothing in the future, and no grant dated before the death.

Entries are not editable or deletable. When a power ends or an estate is finished, click End beside it and give the date and the reason, and it stays on the register marked ended. To correct a mistake, end the entry with a reason such as "Entered in error" and add it again. That is the right shape for a compliance register: an examiner can see what the register said at any time, including what was wrong and when somebody fixed it.

Statement beside a power gives the power money statement, which is that matter's trust ledger with its balance, headed with the donor, their address, the power, its date and who is acting, and a copy is kept with the month end records. Print Register produces the whole register, ended entries included.

Where to start if you have no register

1. Ask each principal what they are appointed to, in their own name as well as the practice's. This is usually where the unknown ones come from.
2. Search your matters for estate and power of attorney work, and check the appointments against the list.
3. For each one, decide whether it relates to trust money and whether rule 60(2) applies, and write the reasoning down for any you leave off.
4. Collect the donor addresses now, while the files are open and the donors can be asked.
5. Add every live appointment, then the ended ones you can evidence, and end those with their real end date and reason.

This article is general information about the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015, not legal advice, and does not take account of your practice's circumstances. It quotes rule 60, and rule 52(2)(c), from the NSW version, current for 6 October 2023 to date, read on the NSW legislation website on 21 September 2026. The Uniform Law and these Rules apply in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia; other states and territories have their own legislation. Where the rule introduces a list with a dash, the quotes above show a colon. It does not cover the register of investments, which these Rules deal with separately. Current as at 21 September 2026.