Power of Attorney
Q: As an Elder Law Attorney, what do you think is the most important document that a person, particularly and older person, really needs?
A: As I have said before, my focus as an Elder Law Attorney is on the time prior to your death, not so much after your death. If you are not careful with your estate prior to death, you may not have anything to pass along to your heirs at death. Therefore, the most important document that you (actually anyone over the age of 18) need is a Durable Power of Attorney for finances and for healthcare. These documents appoint the person you choose to manage your financial and health affairs while you are still alive. Let me say something that sounds very self serving but is very true: this document has to be very comprehensive. Getting one from the office supply store, online and honestly from many non-elder law attorney will not do what we needs done. It’s too late to do it over when the person is incapacitated.
The power of attorney must allow gifts and specifically not restrict gifts to a certain dollar amount. It must also specifically allow many bank transactions or else the bank will not let us do what needs to be done. For example, my Power of Attorney for finances alone is 25 pages long. It is extremely comprehensive but it gets the job done.