{"id":5290,"date":"2019-06-11T12:36:48","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T16:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/collitonlaw.com\/?p=5290"},"modified":"2019-06-13T12:38:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:38:19","slug":"how-to-stay-in-control-when-appointing-a-power-of-attorney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collitonlaw.com\/how-to-stay-in-control-when-appointing-a-power-of-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Stay In Control When Appointing a Power of Attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"
Disability can strike suddenly and is one of the reasons appointing an agent on your behalf to act when you cannot is so important.\u00a0 <\/span>One of the most common reasons seniors likely hesitate to sign a Power of Attorney appointing another person to act on their behalf is fear of loss of control and exploitation.\u00a0 <\/span>In this respect, as an elder law attorney, I admit some conflict.\u00a0 <\/span>On the one hand I have seen instances where an individual becomes disabled without having signed a Power of Attorney, something that can be acquired at reasonable cost and with minimal aggravation, and there the only alternative is for an\u00a0 <\/span>interested party to file for guardianship.\u00a0 <\/span>Guardianship is time consuming, expensive even when not contested, can limit the individual\u2019s freedom, and may result in appointing someone the person would not want.\u00a0 <\/span>Guardianship can, however, be the right answer in the right case.<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand those seniors who believe that Powers of Attorney are powerful documents and require thought are right.<\/span><\/p>\n Here is how to keep you, the senior, in the \u201cdriver\u2019s seat\u201d when designating an Agent under Power of Attorney.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>If your Agent is experiencing money problems herself or himself this might not be the time to appoint since the stress could be too great.<\/li>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span>If you want to appoint two agents to act, you need to know whether your bank, brokerage or financial institution will accept two.\u00a0 <\/span>You also must consider whether they would act well together even if their appointment is feasible or whether they should each have power to act independently.<\/li>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n Finally, you can protect yourself in other ways.\u00a0 <\/span>You should be careful about who has access to your debit cards, credit cards, user names and passwords, and online access to your bank and investment accounts.\u00a0 <\/span>The same rules regarding trustworthiness apply.\u00a0 <\/span>Get help when needed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Disability can strike suddenly and is one of the reasons appointing an agent on your behalf to act when you cannot is so important.\u00a0 One of the most common reasons seniors likely hesitate to sign a Power of Attorney appointing another person to act on their behalf is fear of loss of control and exploitation.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n