Having a current, up-to-date durable of power of attorney can be one of the most important legal documents in your estate planning portfolio. Its function is simple: it allows whoever you choose as your “attorney-in-fact” to do any legal thing that you can do yourself. For example, if you have the authority to change a bank account, buy a piece of land, mortgage your house, pay your bills, sell your car, or invest your money in stocks, then your attorney-in-fact will have that same power. A few key things to keep in mind:
A durable power of attorney will last until you revoke it or die. A power of attorney has no power after a person dies. This makes sense if you think about it. If a power of attorney is supposed to give your attorney-in-fact the ability to do anything legally that you can do, then it makes sense that the power ends when you die. After all, you can’t very well legally do anything for yourself after you die, can you?
You need to trust the person or persons that you appoint as your power of attorney. This should be pretty obvious, but its a great responsibility to be someone’s attorney-in-fact.
A power of attorney can help you avoid the need for a guardianship if you should become incapacitated. This can save you a lot of money and save your family a lot of stress.
You can have more than one attorney-in-fact at one time. So, if you wanted, you could execute a power of attorney giving power to your wife, your son and your daughter. There is no problem with having multiple attorneys-in-fact.
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