Elder Law Report

A power of attorney document should be straight-forward, right? You just name a person or two in a cookie cutter document and they act as your agent . . . easy peasey. As you probably guessed, since I’m writing a whole article on it, a power of attorney document must be tailored specifically for you.Let’s Define Let’s begin by defining a power of attorney. It’s a document where in which you name a person to act on your behalf, as if they were you, for legal, financial, or healthcare purposes. The person who gives the power is the “Principal” and the person who receives the power is the “Agent”. The “legal and financial” power of attorney is known as the General Durable Power of Attorney; this is separate from the “Healthcare” power of attorney. General means that it covers, generally, all legal and financial matters. Durable means that the power survives incompetency, incapacity, or lapse of time.Does it Look Legit? Okay, so this doesn’t sound like it should matter, but it does. Your power of attorney documen