At The Whipple Law Group, we draft separate Powers of Attorney (POA) documents for our clients. For instance, we draft a Financial Decision-Making POA, which specifies what decisions and actions the designated Powers of Attorney may take with regard to your finances. Our client decides whether this power is broad and inclusive or narrowly defined. As stated earlier, we encourage our client to designate a first, second, and third choice in case a designated individual is not available at the time. We do not encourage “co-POA” designations. It may, inadvertently, lead to communication difficulties and confusion.
We, also, draft Health-Care Decision Making POAs, for our clients, at no additional charge, that allows the designated person the authority to make health care related decisions for the temporarily incapacitated person.
One, single, POA document can confer financial and health care decision making power. However, we find it more helpful, for our clients, to separate the two. This way you may choose different people to designate for different decision-making duties. In addition, it tends to prove simpler when visiting the bank to show them the Financial POA and, when at the hospital, to show the doctor the Health Care POA.
