EPAs Made Under the Old 1996 Act

Written by Richard O'Shea, Solicitor TEP · Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981 · Last reviewed 21 August 2026

Still valid — under the old rules' shadow

An EPA validly made under the 1996 Act before the new regime commenced remains effective: nobody needs to remake their planning simply because the law changed. But these instruments are creatures of transition — made under one statute, activated and supervised in a world governed by another — and the practical questions cluster around three points.

The three pressure points

• Activation. A 1996-Act EPA takes effect through registration when the donor becomes, or is becoming, mentally incapable — with notice to specified relatives and an objection window. The procedure differs from the DSS notification route for new EPAs; families holding old EPAs should not assume the processes are interchangeable, and should take advice on the correct current route before acting
• Scope. 1996-Act EPAs cover property and affairs and only limited personal care decisions — narrower than the welfare powers a 2015-Act EPA can carry. Families often discover mid-crisis that the old document doesn't reach the decision they need; the gap is then filled through the Act's other arrangements, not by stretching the EPA
• Supervision. Attorneys acting under activated old EPAs operate in the modern supervisory environment — with the Act's principles and oversight machinery shaping what good conduct looks like, whatever vintage the instrument (see attorneys' duties)

What holders of old EPAs should do

While the donor still has capacity: review the document against today's needs — powers, attorneys still willing and able, and whether the modern instruments (a 2015-Act EPA, an advance healthcare directive) would serve better; remaking is a choice to weigh, not a requirement. If capacity is now in question: take advice on activation before the pressing transaction — a property sale or Fair Deal application against the clock is the worst context in which to learn the document's limits. And if the old EPA doesn't cover what's needed, the DMR route fills the gap.