The register of powers and estates

Most trust obligations announce themselves. Money arrives, and somebody has to bank it, receipt it and reconcile it. That work is visible every week.

The register of powers and estates is not like that. It is a standing list. A practice can act under an enduring power for years with nothing ever prompting an entry. 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 parts of it carry the weight. Acting or entitled to act puts a power on the register before any money moves. The appointment alone is enough, and waiting for the first transaction is too late. The second is the limit to trust money. A power unconnected with it sits 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.

A joint appointment with an outsider, such as a partner appointed executor alongside the deceased's daughter, needs no register entry. 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. The instrument answers it, rather than 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 every power naming the practice:

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 connect in practice. A statement is only possible where the dealings under the power sit against something, which means tying the power 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. The Add Power form records the matter, the Name of donor, the Address of donor and the Date of power. Then the description and the solicitor responsible. The form refuses a power without the donor's address or the date. That is the rule's own floor, applied at entry rather than at examination.

The Add Estate form records the matter, the Name of deceased and the Date of death, with the address and date of grant optional. It also 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 closes, End beside it takes the date and the reason. The entry 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 it 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. Its heading carries the donor, their address, the power, its date and who is acting. A copy stays with the month end records. The Print Register button produces the whole register, ended entries included.

Where to start if you have no register

1. Each principal says what appointments they hold, in their own name as well as the practice's. That is usually where the unknown ones surface.
2. Search your matters for estate and power of attorney work, and check the appointments against the list.
3. Each one needs a decision on whether it relates to trust money and whether rule 60(2) applies. Anything left off carries its reasoning in writing.
4. Collect the donor addresses now, while the files are open and the donors can be asked.
5. Every live appointment goes on, then the ended ones with evidence, each carrying its 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. That version is 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.