Property Power of Attorney In General. Under this legal document, you name an agent to make financial decisions over your property except that the agent's power does not extend to assets in a living trust (if you have a living trust, a property power of attorney is used to transfer property to your living trust upon your incapacity). The property power of attorney may become effective when it is signed OR at some future date (such as medical certification of disability) Useful in Planning for Incapacity. By using a property power of attorney, you select someone to take care of your assets if you are disabled. For smaller estates, a will and property/health powers of attorney (possibly combined with joint tenancy ownership) may be all the estate planning documents needed. However, a will and property power of attorney do not replace a living trust because the living trust is useful for other reasons such as avoiding probate and offers greater protection than a property power of attorney. Pitfalls. Beware that a property power of attorney is a "license to steal" and can be extremely dangerous if your agent uses the power to enrich himself. Also, an agent is under no legal duty to act as agent and some financial institutions are reluctant to honor property powers of attorney (especially if older than 5 years).

<< prev    main    next >>   home | attorney profile | what is estate planning? | contact