Selling a Parent’s Home with Power of Attorney in Alberta
You can sell a parent’s home under an enduring power of attorney only if the document is in effect and specifically gives the power to deal with real estate. If there is no enduring power of attorney and your parent can no longer decide, someone has to apply to court to become their trustee, and the court has to give specific permission to sell. When a parent dies, the power of attorney ends and the executor takes over. Everything below comes from Government of Alberta, Land Titles and CPLEA publications, listed under Sources; a lawyer confirms how they apply to your parent’s documents.
Families usually reach this question in the middle of something harder: a parent moving into care, a diagnosis, a house that sits empty and still costs money every month. The paperwork comes second, but it decides whether a sale can happen at all. This guide takes it in the order it comes up: whether your parent can still decide, what the power of attorney has to say, what Land Titles asks for, what you owe your parent as their attorney, and what changes when there is no power of attorney or when a parent has died.
First question: can your parent still make this decision?
Capacity means a person can understand and appreciate the nature of their decisions. That is the definition used by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA). If your parent can still decide whether to sell, the decision is theirs. They can sign the listing agreement and the sale documents themselves, with you beside them, and a power of attorney may not come into it at all.
A power of attorney that is already in effect does not take the decision away from them either. CPLEA’s guidance for attorneys is to talk with the person about their wishes before making a decision for them, wherever that is possible.
Two kinds of document get called a power of attorney, and the difference matters here:
- A general power of attorney lets someone act for your parent while your parent still has capacity, for example to sign papers they cannot attend in person. It cannot be used once your parent loses capacity.
- An enduring power of attorney (EPA) keeps working, or only starts, when your parent loses capacity. It is the document the rest of this guide is about.
If the family is unsure whether your parent can still decide, do not settle it among yourselves. The EPA usually says who declares that it is in effect, and a court application for trusteeship needs a formal capacity assessment. Both are covered below.
What an enduring power of attorney is, and when it starts
The Government of Alberta describes an enduring power of attorney as a legal document a person makes to give someone else the authority to make financial decisions on their behalf. The person who makes it is the donor; the person it names is the attorney. The word “enduring” is the point: the document has to say that it continues if the donor loses capacity, or that it takes effect when they do. Land Titles will not accept one for a property without that statement.
What you need before you act depends on when your parent’s document says it starts:
| When the EPA starts | What you need before you act |
|---|---|
| As soon as it is signed | The original signed document. It is already in effect. |
| On a specific date, or when a named event happens (most often loss of capacity) | The original, plus a written declaration that the date or event has arrived. The EPA should name who makes that declaration. If the event is loss of capacity and the EPA names no one, or that person cannot or will not decide, 2 medical practitioners must make it. |
There are no regulated forms for an EPA, and the Government of Alberta says it is safest to make one with a lawyer. No two are worded alike, so read your parent’s whole document before relying on it, not someone’s summary of it.
An EPA stops working when any of these happens: your parent dies; your parent revokes it while they still have capacity; a court cancels it; a trusteeship order is granted; or the attorney dies or loses capacity and there is no alternate attorney to take over.
Does the document let you sell the house?
This is the question that matters most, and the answer is in the wording, not in the words “power of attorney” at the top. CPLEA puts it plainly: an attorney can deal with the donor’s real estate, including buying and selling it, only if the EPA specifically gives that power. Land Titles adds a requirement of its own: to be used for land, a power of attorney must make reference to real property.
Before anyone signs a listing agreement, go through these with your lawyer:
| What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Does it say it continues, or starts, when your parent loses capacity? | Without that statement it is not an enduring power of attorney, and it cannot be used once capacity is lost. |
| Is it in effect now? | If it starts on a date or an event, you need the written declaration. Land Titles will not register a power of attorney that depends on an event until the event has happened. |
| Does it give power over real estate, and refer to real property? | Required before an attorney can sell (CPLEA), and before Land Titles will accept it (procedure POA-2). |
| Who are the attorneys, and must they act together? | Co-attorneys must make every decision together unless the EPA says they may act alone. An alternate attorney acts only when the attorney before them cannot. |
| Do you have the original? | You need the original to start acting. With only a copy, get legal advice first. With no original and no copy, you cannot act, and someone will need a trusteeship order. |
| Was it signed and witnessed properly? | Your parent and the witness must sign in each other’s presence. The attorney, the attorney’s spouse and your parent’s spouse cannot be the witness. |
| Was it made outside Alberta? | Land Titles accepts it if it is valid where it was made and says it survives incapacity. From elsewhere in Canada, a lawyer’s letter confirming that is enough; from outside Canada, Land Titles needs a written legal opinion from a lawyer in that jurisdiction. |
What Land Titles needs when the house sells
A sale in Alberta is completed when your lawyer registers the transfer of land at Land Titles. When an attorney signs that transfer, Land Titles needs to see the authority behind the signature. Its procedure for enduring powers of attorney, POA-2, sets out what that means:
- An EPA that does not include the property’s legal description, or that came into effect on an event, is registered together with the document that relies on it, such as the transfer. A notarially certified copy of the original is attached.
- For an EPA that came into effect on an event, an original or notarized copy of the declaration letter is accepted as evidence, whether it comes from the person the EPA names or from 2 medical practitioners.
In practice: find the original EPA, and the declaration if there is one, early, and give your lawyer time to have copies certified. A missing original is easier to deal with before an offer is accepted than after.
Your duties as the attorney during a sale
Hiring a REALTOR® does not hand the responsibility to someone else. CPLEA’s guide for attorneys says you can hire professionals, including a realtor to sell the donor’s home, but you remain responsible for every decision. As attorney, you must:
- talk with your parent about their wishes before you decide, wherever that is possible
- follow the lawful instructions in the EPA, even if you disagree with them
- act in your parent’s best interests, not your own and not anyone else’s
- keep your parent’s personal information private
- record every decision you make for them, and keep the documents behind it: the listing agreement, offers, the purchase contract, statements and receipts
An attorney cannot change your parent’s will, make a new EPA or personal directive for them, or change the beneficiaries named on their investments, pensions or life insurance. If the will leaves the house to a particular person, talk to a lawyer before you list it. CPLEA suggests asking your parent early whether there is property they want kept because the will gives it to someone.
The money from the sale is your parent’s. An attorney may use the donor’s assets for their care, support and benefit, and must protect the rest for future use. Your records may be asked for, too: your parent (if they have capacity), their personal representative, or another interested person can ask a court to order the attorney to account for every transaction.
When family members disagree, CPLEA’s guidance is that the attorney decides, after reviewing the EPA and talking with the donor, in the donor’s interests rather than anyone else’s. Co-attorneys who disagree follow any process the EPA sets out; if it has none, they can apply to court for its opinion, advice or direction.
If there is no enduring power of attorney
If your parent still has capacity, they can sell the home themselves, or make an EPA now. The Government of Alberta says it is safest to make one with a lawyer.
If your parent has lost capacity and there is no EPA, no one, family included, can sell on their behalf until a court appoints a trustee. Being named executor in the will does not help: an executor’s role starts at death. Someone has to apply to the Court of King’s Bench to become your parent’s trustee. From the Government of Alberta’s trusteeship guidance:
| Step | What the Government of Alberta says |
|---|---|
| Capacity assessment | Done by a physician, psychologist or designated capacity assessor, and dated within the 6 months before you apply. |
| Application | Filed with the clerk of the Court of King’s Bench. The forms include the Application (Form 14), Affidavit of Applicant (Form 15) and Trusteeship Plan (Form 34). |
| Permission to sell | A trustee, other than the Public Trustee, must have specific permission from the court to sell the adult’s home or other real estate. If you know the house will be sold, ask for that authority in the application. |
| Cost | A $300 court filing fee, plus the capacity assessor’s charge, a background check fee, and legal fees if you use a lawyer. |
| Time | Usually 6 months from when the paperwork is ready to go to court until the court decides. |
| Urgent orders | A temporary trustee can be appointed for up to 90 days to preserve and protect property, but cannot sell it. |
A trustee’s duties look much like an attorney’s: act in the adult’s best interest, make only the decisions the court order allows, keep the adult’s accounts separate from your own, and keep records of every transaction, because the court may examine them.
If your parent has died
A power of attorney ends at death, and the house becomes part of the estate. Under Land Titles procedure TRA-1, land vests in the personal representative: the executor named in the will, or an administrator the court appoints. The personal representative must apply to be registered as owner before they can deal with the land, and the application needs an original or certified copy of the grant of probate or letters of administration under seal of the Court of King’s Bench.
One exception to know about: if your parent owned the home as a joint tenant with someone who is still living, that person continues to own the property through the right of survivorship.
From here, selling an inherited home in Alberta and selling a home after a death in Calgary cover probate, the estate sale process and pricing.
A practical order of steps
- Find the original EPA, the will and, if the EPA starts on a date or event, the written declaration.
- Have a lawyer read the EPA: is it in effect, does it cover real estate, and must the attorneys act together?
- Talk with your parent about their wishes if they can take part, and write down what you decided and why.
- If the home is empty, secure it, keep it maintained and check the insurance.
- Get a written pricing review, then sign the listing agreement as attorney.
- Keep every offer, counter-offer and receipt. Your lawyer registers the transfer, with the EPA or a certified copy as Land Titles requires.
- Put the proceeds into your parent’s account, never your own, and record it.
How I help when the seller is a parent
I hold the SRES® (Seniors Real Estate Specialist) designation. When the seller is a parent and the person signing is their attorney, this is how I work:
- Paperwork before the listing. Before a listing agreement is signed, I ask to see the EPA and, if it started on an event, the written declaration, and I suggest your lawyer confirms it covers a sale. I am a REALTOR®, not a lawyer, so I cannot tell you whether a document is valid.
- Your parent, in the conversation. If your parent can take part, I talk with them, not just about them. Their wishes are part of your decision under the EPA.
- A written record as we go. Pricing advice, every offer and every counter-offer reach you in writing, so the record of decisions you are required to keep builds itself.
- Co-attorneys. Where the EPA requires you to act together, all of you sign, and I plan signing around that.
- Privacy. I update the family members you name, and nobody else.
- An empty house. If your parent has moved out, we plan for heat, snow, lawn, regular checks and insurance. CPLEA lists keeping the home secure and maintained, and making sure there is enough insurance, among an attorney’s first jobs.
For the rest of the move, the downsizing service page explains how I work with seniors and families, the senior downsizing guide covers timing, tax and costs, and helping your parents downsize is written for the adult children doing the organising.
Sources
- Government of Alberta: Enduring power of attorney
- Government of Alberta: Trusteeship (capacity assessment, forms, the filing fee, timing and court permission to sell)
- Land Titles Procedures Manual: POA-2, Powers of Attorney: Enduring (issued September 1, 2017)
- Land Titles Procedures Manual: TRA-1, Transmission on Death (issued November 10, 2022)
- Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA): Be an Attorney: Enduring Power of Attorney (reviewed June 2025)
Checked September 30, 2026. General information about Alberta rules, not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
This guide is general information about Alberta rules, taken from the Government of Alberta, the Land Titles Procedures Manual and the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta, and checked September 30, 2026. It is not legal advice, and I am not a lawyer. Whether your parent’s power of attorney lets you sell, and exactly what Land Titles will need, is a question for a lawyer who has read the document.
Selling a parent’s home and not sure where to start?
Tell me where things stand: whether your parent can take part, what the paperwork says, and whether the home is empty. I will walk you through the order of steps and what to confirm with your lawyer before anything is listed. Bangla · Hindi · Urdu · English.
Before deciding to list, it is worth seeing both columns: what a sale would net today, and what the home would earn as a rental after management, fees and tax. Run the comparison yourself, or send me the address and we will go through it together.
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