What is a Power of Attorney?

A power of attorney (POA) is a legal document that allows you to give a person of your choice the authority to manage your finances or make health care decisions for you. You want to have a separate power of attorney for each, and can often name a different person for each type. Generally, these documents are included in an estate plan that you create with your estate plan attorney.

Types of Powers of Attorney

Durable Power of Attorney:

Often, you will hear, or see, the financial power of attorney referred to as a durable power of attorney. The addition of the term durable to your power of attorney means that the power of attorney will continue to be in effect if you become incapacitated. When you are creating an estate plan, your documents should be durable as planning for incapacity is part of the reason for your estate plan. There are times when a non-durable power of attorney is necessary, most often for property-related powers for someone to manage property temporarily such as when you are on vacation for an extended time. These types of power of attorney usually have an expiration date and do not continue if someone becomes incapacitated.

Health Care POA:

Your health care power of attorney usually doesn’t contain the durable term in its title but is almost always going to be a durable power of attorney. Another common term for your health care power of attorney is an Advance Health Care Directive. Again, the primary reason to have this power in place is in case someone becomes incapacitated, which is why it is a durable power of attorney. 

What to do with your Power of Attorney

In order to properly complete your power of attorney documents, you may have them witnessed or notarized. If the power includes property, it must be notarized. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as Covid, it is generally recommended that you notarize these documents to avoid any potential issues of legitimacy down the road. 

Once you have your power of attorney in place, we recommend sending a copy of your Advance Health Care Directive to your Health Care Provider and providing a copy of both powers of attorney for finances and health care to the person(s) you chose to give the authority to. Your chosen agent can then keep those documents on hand and be ready to use them if the need should ever arise. 

If you or a loved one need to create or update their estate plan and power of attorney documents, we encourage you to reach out to an estate planning attorney as soon as possible. The legal team at Naimish & Lewis is here to assist with your estate planning needs.