Durable Power of Attorney

The function of a Durable Power of Attorney is to eliminate the need for conservator ship or guardianship proceedings in a court of law should you ever become incapacitated and are unable to manage your own decisions.

The Durable Power of Attorney keeps you in charge of your own destiny. You, not some judge, will determine who has the legal authority to act for you should the time ever come when you cannot make decisions for yourself. Unless and until such incapacity occurs, you continue to retain full control over your affairs. If it does, the person you have appointed will take over your affairs and act within the guidelines and restrictions you have already established.

The person you've chosen to act in your behalf is called your attorney in fact. Clearly, your attorney in fact must be someone you trust completely. This could be your spouse or another responsible member of your family or a friend. Additionally, the law gives you power to impose reasonable limitations and guidelines on the actions, which your attorney in fact can take.

Your Attorney In Fact Represents You
The attorney in fact can pay bills, deposit checks, handle taxes, sell stocks, invest in securities - in short, everything that you would otherwise do for yourself. You can specify in your Durable Power or Attorney whether you wish to have your money invested in stocks and bonds, real estate, or simply allowed to stay safely in a bank. As a safeguard, you can direct that your representative cannot sell or encumber your house as long as you're alive.

This is precisely how you can avoid becoming a victim of negligence or fraud or incompetence.

If your financial affairs were far more complicated, you could draft your Durable Power of Attorney to meet precisely those need and circumstances. In other words, flexibility is the key.

But this is not all.

Medical and Health Care Decisions
The Durable Power of Attorney authorizes the person you've selected to make medical and health care decisions when you're in no position to make them for yourself. This may involve honoring your desire to be cared for by a particular physician in a particular medical facility, or it may involve prohibiting the use of heroic medical efforts to sustain life artificially long after it has ceased to exist in any meaningful manner.

The point is, is the Durable Power of Attorney allows you to express your wishes in a legal form and gives your attorney in fact the required power to implement them for you. You can revoke this power at any time as long as you're competent.

Avoids Court Proceedings
Remember, without the Durable Power of Attorney, court proceedings may be necessary to appoint a person with legal authority to handle the incapacitated person's financial affairs. Such guardianship or conservator ship proceedings are costly, time-consuming, public and embarrassing. A court-appointed conservator has to post a bond cost of which comes out of your estate. He has to make periodic accountings to the court of his actions. His powers are highly restricted and always subject to court supervision. Once a conservator is appointed, it will take another order of the court to replace him even though he proves to be incompetent or negligent.

At Munley, Munley & Cartwright, our goal is to provide exceptional legal services to our clients. We strive to achieve the highest standard of excellence for the protection of individual rights through team work and the use of our considerable resources and experience. For a free consultation regarding your legal concerns, please submit the below, or call us at: 1-800-318-LAW1