A Power of Attorney lets your Agent control your affairs
Your Agent (Fiduciary) should be able and willing, first and foremost
Your Agent should also be levelheaded and familiar
A Power of Attorney is a very powerful document
A Power of Attorney can permit your Agent the broadest of powers to do anything that you could have done (i.e., give all your money away). Yet, inherent in the broad powers that your Agent possesses is the possibility - the extremely real possibility - that your Agent under your Power of Attorney may actually do anything that you could have done (i.e., give all your money away).
There are different types of Powers of Attorney
Durable (effective after you are incapacitated and while you are incapacitated)
Current (effective now); or
Springing (effective upon the happening of a future event, i.e., the decision by your doctor that you can no longer act for yourself).
Your Power of Attorney should be HIPAA compliant
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rules, a Power of Attorney that is intended to allow the Personal Representative (Agent) the power to access medical records, to authorize information disclosures, and to participate in medical decisions on behalf of the Principal, but not drafted to allow the Personal Representative (Agent) the "presently effective power" to make health care decisions on behalf of the Principal, may be a technically deficient Power of Attorney. Consequently, the Agent may lack the critical and necessary powers to act on behalf of the Principal in the time of need. For a more detailed explanation, please view the article Powers of Attorney and HIPAA in the Publications section of my Website.
A Power of Attorney does not eliminate your ability to act for yourself
Quite to the contrary, and until you are deemed incapacitated, a Power of Attorney should properly be viewed as a "shared authority."
You still retain all of the powers and your decision making ability that you possessed before you executed the Power of Attorney.
John B. Whalen, Jr., J.D., LL.M. is an
AV Peer Review Attorney and Counselor at Law and a member of the
Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He has had his legal articles published on the Martindale.Com website and his law blogs published on the Lawyers.Com website.
John concentrates his legal practice solely in the areas of
Estate Law,
Estate Planning,
Estate Administration,
Executor Representation,
Probate, Ancillary Probate,
Last Wills, Decedents Estates,
Powers of Attorney, Advance Directives, Trust Law,
Living Wills,
Fiduciary Law,
Inheritance,
Inheritance Tax, Trusts and Estates, Trust Administration, Cemetery Law, Tax Law, Estates Taxation, and
Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples.
John serves, and has served, individuals and attorneys in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Metropolitan Area (and throughout the country), including Chester County Pa, Delaware County Pa, Lancaster County Pa, Montgomery County Pa, and Philadelphia County Pa.
John has served clients in Ambler Pa, in Ardmore Pa, in Aston Pa, in Berwyn Pa, in Blue Bell Pa, in Bridgeport Pa, in Broomall Pa, in Bryn Mawr Pa, in Chadds Ford Pa, in Chesterbrook Pa, in Chester Heights Pa, in Chester Springs Pa, in Coatesville Pa, in Collegeville Pa, in Conshohocken Pa, in Devon Pa, in Downingtown Pa, in Drexel Hill Pa, in Eagleville Pa, in Easttown Pa, in Elkins Park Pa, in Exton Pa, in Frazer Pa, in Great Valley Pa, in Haverford Pa, in Havertown Pa, in Jeffersonville Pa, in Kennett Square Pa, in King of Prussia Pa, in Lansdale Pa, in Limerick Pa, in Linfield Pa, in Linwood Pa, in Lower Merion Pa, in Malvern Pa, in Media Pa, in Narberth Pa, in Newtown Square Pa, in Norristown Pa, in Oaks Pa, in Overbrook Pa, in Paoli Pa, in Parkesburg Pa, in Phoenixville Pa, in Plymouth Meeting Pa, in Pottstown Pa, in Radnor Pa, in Ridley Park Pa, in Rosemont Pa, in St. Davids Pa, in Springfield Pa, in Strafford Pa, in Swarthmore Pa, in Thorndale Pa, in Tredyffrin Pa, in Trooper Pa, in Upper Merion Pa, in Valley Forge Pa, in Villanova Pa, in Wayne Pa, in West Chester Pa, in Westtown Pa, in Whitemarsh Pa, in Willistown Pa, in Wynnewood Pa, and in Yeadon Pa.