One of the documents that you should have in your estate plan is a power of attorney. An experienced estate planning attorney will be able to explain them to you. Of course, if you know the basic types, then you will be better able to determine how qualified an attorney is to draw up your documents. There are several different kinds of powers of attorney. They include:

General Power of Attorney: This means that you’re naming someone to act in your place in the event that you cannot act for yourself. They’re called an agent.

Limited Power of Attorney: This just means that you’ve limited the amount of power your agent has over your affairs. For example, you’re only giving your agent access to your bank account, or to only pay your bills, etc.

One example of a limited power of attorney is the Springing Power of Attorney which only becomes effective if you become incapacitated. These are no longer being recommended because of the HIPAA law (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) which concludes that your medical records stay private unless written consent is given. If your agent can’t get your medical records to prove that you’re incapacitated, then he can’t act as your agent under the Springing Power of Attorney.

Whether you have a general or a limited power of attorney, make sure there is a clause giving your agent the authority to access your medical records in order to prove your incapacitation, should the need come up.

Another item you need to include is a Durable Power of Attorney. This just means that there is language built into your power of attorney stating that it is still viable even upon your incapacitation. Even if you have a general or a limited power of attorney, always make sure that it is durable. Most powers of attorney become null and void upon incapacitation or death. The durable power of attorney makes sure that it is still valid upon incapacitation.

Last 5 posts by Deepak Shrivastava

• How to File and Register an LLC in Florida - March 11th, 2010
• VHS to DVD - Are You Breaking the Law? - March 11th, 2010
• Buy and Sell Used Cars at Affordable Prices from “Available Car” - March 10th, 2010
• Tips to Identify Top Criminal Attorneys - March 4th, 2010
• Cyber Crime - February 15th, 2010

Tags: Power of Attorney

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Attorneys, Career as Crminal Lawyer, Corporations LLC, Criminal Act, Criminal Law, Cyber Law, Identity Theft, Labor Law, Law & Money Manifesting, Legal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.