Powers of Attorney - Estate Planning Basics for Everyone

Everyone, young and old, from an eighteen year old high school senior to an eighty year old retiree need Powers of Attorney for Healthcare and Property.

Briefly, a Power of Attorney authorizes someone to act on your behalf for either financial matters (Property Power of Attorney) or health care decisions (Health Care Power of Attorney)

Powers of Attorney are not complicated documents and therefore they are not expensive to prepare. Nevertheless, they are very useful. They can help prevent a court guardianship case.

A court guardianship can be a very expensive process. It involves a court hearing to determine whether a person is competent to manage their health care decisions and or their financial affairs. Even if there is no one contesting the guardianship, it can involve several hours of an attorney's time. For financial affairs, which is called Guardianship of the Estate, annual accountings are required. In addition, the court must approve all financial transactions. All these court approvals require attorney's time to prepare the documents for the court. So, the fees can add up quickly.

These fees can almost always be avoided by having a Power of Attorney for Property and for Healthcare.

Disclaimer

This is a passive blog and the materials contained herein are provided for informational purposes only. Nothing contained in this blog should be interpreted as a solicitation of business and none of the information contained herein constitutes legal advice. The law is subject to change without notice, and the local laws of your residence may be different from the general information displayed on this blog. You should not rely on the information provided on this blog without first consulting an attorney. Contacting this website does not establish and attorney/client relationship between you and its publisher Christopher W. Matern.

An attorney/client relationship can only be established with Christopher Matern by engaging in direct person-to-person contact with Christopher Matern. Christopher Matern does not intend to practice law in any jurisdiction in which he is not licensed.