The Power of Love and the Power of Attorney

Since Father’s Day falls in June, it makes sense that June is Men’s Health Month. June also serves as the national month for Alzheimer’s and brain awareness. I am going to dedicate this first submission to the memory of my own father, Jack. We want the men (and women) in our lives to take care of themselves and one way they can do that is to make certain they have given others the power to help care for them when they can no longer do so themselves – to create a complete estate plan.

Your father may be like my own. He believed the sun rose and set with his children and the love of his life, my mother. He was a veteran, an animal lover, a proud Idahoan, and a dedicated family man. He saved and planned for the future and did all the right things a responsible father and husband should do, but one key element to his estate planning was missing – a financial power of attorney. And this created such an upheaval, more than my parents could have ever imagined.

What is a Financial Power of Attorney? A financial power of attorney is a legally enforceable document that allows you to select someone to make decisions regarding all aspects of your finances and property during times of incapacity – whether it be physical or mental. But many Americans don’t have this important legal document. AARP states that 6 in 10 U.S. adults don’t have the essential estate planning documents, including powers of attorney. In fact, Reuters called the power of attorney the “one document Americans need now.”

There are a few types of Financial Powers of Attorney: While there are four main types of financial powers of attorney – durable, general, limited, and springing, the one which remains in effect even throughout a person’s incapacity, is a durable power of attorney.

When one loses the capacity to make legal decisions for themselves – as a result of dementia, for example, they should have the appropriate document that will help them through such times. Statistics around the increasing rates of dementia in the U.S. are staggering and I would guess that you, dear reader, know someone in your life touched by this terrible disease.

The Power of a Power of Attorney – what could happen without one: My own life has been touched by Alzheimer’s disease. My mother developed early onset dementia in her late 50s. She and my father had their wills drafted back in the early 1990s but, unbeknownst to me, they did not have powers of attorney for finance.

My dear father was diagnosed with cancer, and we lost him 11 months after his diagnosis. During that time, my sweet mother had become totally incapacitated with Alzheimer’s dementia. And while I was the Personal Representative (executor) of my father’s estate, I could do nothing for my mother regarding her finances or property.

You see, while I could act on my father’s behalf, anything concerning my mother – making decisions regarding her finances, home, taxes, bank accounts, investments, and arranging for her care – was out of my hands. No one would talk to me without a power of attorney.

This was not what our parents had intended for us to go through. They believed they had done the right thing in having wills created but a last will and testament is the document that governs one’s estate at death. Powers of attorney govern during one’s lifetime, during one’s incapacity.

As an Estate Planning attorney, I rarely, if ever, create estate planning documents for my clients without powers of attorney. I know, first-hand, the invaluable tools they are for helping the ones we love when they can no longer do for themselves.

I cannot advocate for these documents more passionately. While you might find online do-it-yourself power of attorney forms, if not properly executed, they will do you no good. While a power of attorney is accepted in all states, rules and requirements differ from state to state. So please, don’t rely on Google to provide you with adequate legal powers of attorney. Get the job done the right way the first time around and do the right thing for yourself and your family – that’s the power of love, the power of a power of attorney. I’m here to help.