Financial Powers of Attorney
By Ashley L. Hawley
October 23, 2020
Attorney Ashley Hawley closes out Ruder Ware’s honoring of National Estate Planning Awareness Week with an informative post on financial powers of attorney. The concept of a financial power of attorney is that you draft a document naming an agent who can to step into your shoes to make financial decisions on your behalf.
Video Transcript:
Hi, my name is Ashley Hawley and I’m an attorney on the Trusts & Estates Team at Ruder Ware. My topic for you for today is financial powers of attorney. The concept of a financial power of attorney is that you draft a document that names an agent to be able to step into your shoes to make financial decisions on your behalf. The financial power of attorney can either be effective immediately or it can be effective upon the determination of your incapacity. The concept of the financial power of attorney is that your agent will be able to make small decisions on your behalf. For example, making sure your electric bill is paid every month. To larger decisions like selling your house. So, ultimately, the most important part of your financial power of attorney is selecting an agent that you trust, that can make these decisions for you. If you don’t have someone like that, you can name a corporate entity, or another third party, that could step into your shoes for these kinds of decisions. Everyone who is age 18 or older should have a financial power of attorney. If you do not draft a financial power of attorney and you become incapacitated and can’t make your financial decisions, a guardian will need to be appointed on your behalf. That guardianship process is a court process and it is something that is worth avoiding if you can.
And the easy way to avoid that is just to make sure you have a valid financial power of attorney. Anyone in our Trusts & Estates Team at Ruder Ware can help you draft a financial power of attorney that is particular to your situation. A word of caution: there are online forms available to do durable powers of attorney for finance. Those forms are sometimes not state specific, and even the ones that are state specific don’t include key provisions that might be important for your situation. So you should feel free to consult with an estate planning attorney first before you try to draft this one.
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