Powers of attorney are used in the legal field for various different underlying reasons. You are probably aware of the fact that a power of attorney is used to name someone to act on your behalf in a legally binding manner.
There are general powers of attorney, and limited powers of attorney. A general power of attorney would give the agent the ability to act on your behalf on a comprehensive basis. In a real sense, the agent could do just about anything that you could do for yourself.
With a limited power of attorney, you give the agent the power to act on your behalf for limited purposes. For example, if you were to leave the country for a month, you could give someone the power to conduct transactions on your behalf for that month.
To provide another example, you could give someone within your business organization the power to act on your behalf for certain specific limited purposes.
Estate Planning Implications
If you are visiting this website, you are probably looking for information about estate planning in the greater Philadelphia area. Since you are looking for estate planning information, you may wonder why this blog post is about powers of attorney.
Powers of attorney are relevant because a well constructed estate plan will address the contingencies that you may face toward the end of your life. A significant percentage of seniors become unable to handle their own decision-making at some point in time due to incapacitation. You can name hand-picked decision-makers through the execution of durable powers of attorney.
Durable powers of attorney are used for this purpose because this type of POA would still be in effect even if the grantor was to become incapacitated.
There are financial decisions that could present themselves, and there are also medical decisions. To be fully prepared, you could execute a durable health care power of attorney along with a durable financial power of attorney.
If the person that you would like to see managing your money is not the same person that you want to empower to make health care decisions on your behalf, you could name two different respective agents.
Interested parties could petition the state to appoint a guardian to act on your behalf if you fail to execute durable powers of attorney, and the outcome may not be consistent with what you would have wanted when you were of sound mind.
Incapacity Planning Consultation
A well constructed estate plan should certainly include the execution of durable powers of attorney to account for possible latter life incapacitation. If you are currently unprepared, action is required.
Our firm offers free consultations, and we would be glad to help you include an incapacity component within your broader estate plan. To set up an appointment, send us a message through this page: Bucks County PA Estate Planning Attorneys.
Joe Masiuk, Estate Planning Attorney
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