Power of Attorney and Your Estate Plan
Your will is not the only estate planning document you need; in fact, it is the one that you can most easily do without. If someone dies without a will, the court will still distribute the decedent’s property to his or her closest surviving family members according to New York’s laws of intestate succession. The law does not have any default provisions about family members making decisions on behalf of an elderly and infirm relative and managing the relative’s finances. Instead, it abandons the whole situation to a mess. Therefore, the estate planning documents that determine what happens to your body and your property while you are still alive are at least as important as your will. One of these estate planning documents is called a power of attorney. For help drafting and issuing a power of attorney and other estate planning documents, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.
What Is a Power of Attorney?
A power of attorney (POA) is a document where the owner of property, known as the principal, authorizes someone else, known as the agent, to make one or more financial transactions on the principal’s behalf. These are the major kinds of power of attorney:
- A limited POA pertains only to a specific transaction, such as authorizing someone else to sell your car when you are out of state.
- A durable POA does not have an expiration date, and it can give the agent access only to some of the principal’s assets or to all of them.
- A springing power of attorney can be durable or limited, but it goes into effect when the principal becomes incapacitated, as opposed to on a specific date listed in the text of the POA.
What Makes a Power of Attorney Legally Valid?
To make your POA valid, you must sign it in the presence of two witnesses and get it notarized. Both you and the two witnesses must be adults who have not been judged legally incompetent to make decisions.
How and Why to Revoke a Power of Attorney
A durable POA or springing POA of unlimited duration remains valid indefinitely. To take away the agent’s right to make transactions on your behalf, you must revoke the POA. To do this, you must issue a new document that amends or revokes the previous POA, and you must sign the new document in the presence of witnesses and get it notarized. Reasons to revoke a POA include finding out that you cannot trust the agent, changes to your health or that of the agent, or changes to your financial situation. If you are getting a divorce, and you have issued a POA authorizing your spouse as your agent, you should revoke the POA.
Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney
An estate planning lawyer can answer your questions about power of attorney and how to issue, amend, or revoke these documents. Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.
Sources:
nysba.org/new-yorks-new-power-of-attorney-law-an-update/?srsltid=AfmBOoolPwN0DhWRckhZEZa9_zmtJrv4UI1rS3eleDWwbCZFQl2RANmK
bluenotary.us/how-to-void-a-power-of-attorney/#:~:text=Voiding%20a%20POA%20might%20become,in%20the%20original%20POA%20document.
