Arizona Republic Article on Powers of Attorney

This was in Sundays paper, August 2, 2009, in the Ask Steve column.

The question that was asked in his colum was a follow-up to a health care power of attorney article he ran previously. This one was about the financial power of attorney.

I have discussed financial powers of attorney before. Since I find these very important documents while the person is alive, which is the only time you can use it, I would like to touch on the topic again.

In the article, Mr. Sanghi discusses how financial powers of attorney can be durable or non-durable. Durable means the agent can still use the power of attorney after the person who created it becomes incapacitated. From my perspective, I cannot think of a better situation when you want a power of attorney than those times when you are unable to handle your own affairs. Don't get me wrong, a non-durable power of attorney does have an occasional benefit. For example, you need someone to represent you now for a one time only occurrence.

The other point raised in the article, and I like this as well, is what we call a "springing power of attorney." Let me first explain what this means then discuss circumstance of the use. A "springing" document means in this situation that there is some occurrence that causes the power of attorney to kick in, or "spring" into effect. For powers of attorney this is almost always upon doctors' orders that the principal that created the document is now incapacitated. Until then, the agent has no authority to act on his or her behalf. From my experience, I rarely see the benefit of letting someone have so much control and access to our financial affairs until we are unable to handle it ourselves. Of course if a person is just unable to handle his or her affairs, but is not necessarily "incapacitated", he or she can always create a power of attorney to apply immediately upon its execution.

My best,

Jim