Power of Attorney

A "power of attorney" is a legal instrument which grants another person the authority to act as your legal representative, and to make binding legal and financial decisions on your behalf.

While it is not particularly difficult to find power of attorney forms on the Internet, there is usually little or no accompanying explanation of what a power of attorney is, when you need one, or what type to choose. Given that the power of attorney can grant considerable power to a third party to act on your behalf and sign your name to legal contracts, you should give careful consideration to the person to whom you choose to grant those powers, and whether any limits should be imposed in the time the power of attorney will last, or in its scope

It may be necessary to to designate someone (called your agent or attorneys-in-fact) make medical decisions for you. To do this, you write the agent’s name in a document called an Advanced Health Care Directive. (It used to be called a power of attorney for health care.) For more information on when and how to make these important medical decisions, click here.