POWERS-OF-ATTORNEY

Powers-of-Attorney are Advance Directives of sorts. The qualifying, "of sorts" is due to the fact that by executing your state's most widely used statutory form, you provide IMMEDIATE authority to another to act for you in the ways set forth in the document. If this document is not restricted or narrowly drafted for a specific situation or use, your agent will be able to act for you in most ways that you are legally able to act.

(For a discussion of "most", see Powers-of-Attorney Discussion ).

This is a bit different than other Advance Directives, including the Living Will , as they provide legal direction or designation for the future, i.e. after your incapacity.

However, like other Advance Directives, you must be competent at the time you execute this document for the authority provided to be legal. You must also be acting "of your own free will", and the document must be witnessed and notarized in accordance with your state law.

Depending upon the terms of the document, the authority you provide to another (your "agent", "POA", or "atty-in-fact") may survive incompetence. (This is called "durable" in some states).

You may be thinking, "If the authority provided in this document takes effect upon its execution...this could be a very dangerous document in the wrong hands!" Indeed, it could be.

Even though giving authority to another, legally takes nothing away from you; by executing this document, you are putting another in position to take from you:

Through the execution of Powers-of-Attorney documents, you may empower your agent to sell your home, change the title on deeds to your property, empty your bank accounts, just to provide you with examples of your vulnerability. Your state's statutes and common law limit Powers-of-Attorney authority to act only in a "fiduciary capacity," meaning, it is illegal for your agent to steal from you. However, should your agent prove untrustworthy, you are vulnerable.

A type of this document is widely used in every state, and it has been widely abused as well.

Due to the dangers inherent in these documents, most states have Powers-of-Attorney forms that are purer Advance Directives. These powers-of-attorney are written to be operative only in the future, and are sometimes referred to as "Springing".