5. Pay yourself

You can pay yourself out of the person's money for acting as the attorney, unless the Power of Attorney for Property says you cannot be paid.

But even if it says that you'll not be paid, you can pay yourself back for expenses related to the person. For example, you might have bought groceries or a wheelchair for the person using your own credit card. Make sure you keep all receipts and bank records.

The Power of Attorney might say how much you can be paid. If not, the law says how much this can be, based on:

• the amount of the person's money that you look after, and
• the total value of the person's money and property.

You can take both a compensation fee and a management fee.

A compensation fee is a payment for the work and time your attorney spends acting as your attorney. The standard compensation fee is not more than:

• 3% of any money that comes into your estate, which is called “capital and income receipts”, and
• 3% of any money going out of your estate, which is called “capital and income disbursements”

A management fee is a payment that's based on the average value of all your property in a year. The standard management fee is not more than 0.6% of this amount.