Power of attorney is a designation given to an agent to handle financial or medical acts on someone else’s behalf. The person giving permission, known as the principal, can also choose to have the agent continue to operate on their behalf even if they should become incapacitated (known as durable power of attorney).
Durable ($) Power of Attorney – To grant power to bank accounts, real estate, and any other financial-related acts. The powers are durable which means the form remains valid even if the principal should become mentally incompetent.
Download: Adobe PDF, MS Word (.docx)
General ($) Power of Attorney – Grants identical financial powers as the durable version. Although, the general power of attorney is no longer valid if the principal becomes mentally incompetent.
IRS Power of Attorney (Form 2848) – To hire or allow someone else to file federal taxes to the Internal Revenue Service on your behalf.
Download: Adobe PDF
Limited Power of Attorney – For any non-medical power. This is common for one-time instances such as picking up mail, borrowing a vehicle, or staying at someone else’s home.
Download: Adobe PDF, MS Word (.doc)
Medical Power of Attorney – Referred to as an “Advance Directive,” which allows someone to act as a health care surrogate and make decisions based on the patient’s wishes.
Parental (Minor) Power of Attorney – To give health and educational powers to someone else over the caretaking of one’s child.
Real Estate Power of Attorney – For the buying, selling, renting, or occupying someone else’s property.
Revocation Power of Attorney – To cancel or void a power of attorney document.
An individual may get power of attorney for any type in five (5) easy steps:
Select and ask someone that you trust if they would like to be your “Agent” or “Attorney-in-Fact”. Especially for a durable power of attorney, the agent selected should be someone you have trusted most of your life.
Choose from one of the following nine (9) types:
*Incapacitation is defined as not being able to make rational and cognitive decisions knowing full-well of the consequences of such decided actions.
After completing, you and the Agent(s) selected will need to check the bottom of the form for the requirements for authorization. In most cases, a Notary Public will need to be used or Two (2) Witnesses.
It is important for all parties involved to have copies of their form. A power of attorney does not need to be recorded with any government office and is primarily held by the Principal and Agent(s).
A Principal may terminate this arrangement by signing a Revocation Form. Otherwise, it will only cancel upon the death of the Principal.
Accidents happen. Any person who should become incapacitated through an accident or illness would need to make arrangements beforehand for their financial and medial affairs.
A durable or general power of attorney allows for any type of financial transaction to be handled by someone else. The financial transactions include, but are not limited to,
An advance directive, referred to as a “living will” or “medical power of attorney”, lets someone else handle health care decisions on someone else’s behalf and in line with their wishes. These powers include:
For other nominations, a principal may assign power of attorney under a special circumstance with the limited form. In addition, if the principal is looking to have someone only handle personal and business filings, a tax power of attorney should be used.
