Power of Attorney

DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY…SMART PLANNING!

There are two kinds of Powers of Attorney, one for health care or medical decisions and the other one is for financial decisions which is the Durable Power of Attorney.

You, as the “Principal”, appoint one or more people to act as your “Attorney-in-fact” as to all of your financial decisions. Your “Attorney-in-fact then “stands in your shoes” and can make all of the same financial decisions regarding your assets and liabilities as you can.   That person can access your bank accounts, sell your property, buy property, mortgage property and even have the authority to deal with your digital assets (i.e. your online accounts for Google, Facebook, bank accounts, etc.)  So you want to choose someone whom you trust.

You can choose to have the Power of Attorney take effect immediately or you can specify that it does not take affect until you become incapacitated or incompetent. That may require a written declaration of one or more physicians that you are incapacitated or incompetent. In that event, the power of attorney is considered to be “Durable” as it survives your incompetency or incapacity.