A person who wants to permit another to perform certain legal acts on his or her behalf needs
a power of attorney. A power of attorney form can allow another person to handle financial
matters, make healthcare decisions, and/or take care of your children. A power of attorney is a
legal document that allows an individual to appoint or designate another person or entity to act on their
behalf to handle their affairs. The person who forms the power of attorney is known as the principal
and the person granted the authority over the affairs is the agent or attorney-in-fact. A power of attorney
is in effect only as long as the principal is alive, and it can only be created by a principal who is
mentally competent. A Durable power of attorney is created as a general power of attorney and sets
no date for which it will expire, and it will last until you die and will continue even after you
become incapacitated or mentally incompetent.
The agent or attorney-in-fact only steps in if you are no longer mentally capable of running your own
personal, legal, and financial affairs. The primary purposes of a power of attorney include, but are not
limited to, making medical decisions, handling financial and legal matters on behalf of the principal
and to make decisions on behalf of a person who has lost their mental capacity or competency.
Medical decisions for the principal can also be handled when the principal has become unable to make
those decisions for themselves due to incapacity or incompetency. Such an instrument or document can
be called an advanced directive, which can include a Designation of Healthcare Surrogate(a medical
power of attorney), a Living Will, a Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment, a Do Not
Resuscitate order(DNR) as well as an Organ and Tissue donation card. It grants authority to the
attorney-in-fact or agent to make medical decisions for the principal. It does not grant any other
authority or powers to the agent other than handling the healthcare needs of the principal. The other
forms set out instructions prior to illness, which determine an individual’s healthcare
wishes. They guide the treatment choices for doctors and caregivers if you are terminally ill,
seriously injured, in a coma or near the end of life.
An attorney-in-fact or agent not only can be designated or nominated to handle the affairs of someone
who has become incompetent or even if they are disabled or elderly and require assistance to get things
done but can also be appointed to act on the behalf of someone to handle a specific transaction, which
may be a limited power of attorney.
As a person ages, mental abilities may gradually decline and eventually be lost as well as physical
abilities. You won’t necessarily need a power of attorney if you are physically disabled and confined to
a wheelchair or even bed-ridden so long as you are mentally competent. A power of attorney should be
prepared before your mind gives way to senility or dementia. A valid power of attorney executed prior
to incompetency ensures that your personal affairs are properly managed when you are no longer able
to do them on your own.