New South Wales Consolidated Acts

POWERS OF ATTORNEY ACT 2003 - SECT 44

44 Proof of powers of attorney

(cf 1919 No 6, s 163A)

(1) A document is a certified copy of an instrument for the purposes of this section if:

(a) there is endorsed on the document a written certificate, to the effect that the document is a true and complete copy of the contents of the instrument of which it purports to be a copy, by:

(i) the principal under the power of attorney created by the instrument, or

(ii) a person (or person belonging to a class of persons) prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection, and

(b) each page of the document bears the signature of the person who gives the certificate referred to in paragraph (a).

(2) A legible document that is a certified copy of an instrument creating a power of attorney is evidence:

(a) as against the principal under the power of attorney of the execution and contents of the instrument, and

(b) as against any other person of the contents of the instrument.

(3) Subsection (2) does not make a document better evidence than is the instrument of the contents of which it purports to be a copy.

(4) This section does not affect any other method of proving the execution or contents of an instrument creating a power of attorney.

(5) A person must not give a certificate for the purposes of this section knowing the certificate to be false.

Maximum penalty (subsection (5)): 5 years imprisonment.