Plan Ahead with a Durable Power of Attorney Lawyers

Your estate plan should include features to protect you during your life as well as provisions to safeguard your loved ones in the days to come. One type of document that accomplishes both purposes is a power of attorney.

When you have the right powers of attorney prepared, you ensure that your affairs can be managed in case of emergency, and you prevent the need for family members to pursue costly and invasive guardianship proceedings in the future.

Chesapeake Wills & Trusts creates durable powers of attorney that are custom-tailored to your specific needs and desires. We help ensure that if an accident or illness prevents you from making or communicating your own decisions, someone you trust will have just the right authority to act on your behalf

Understanding Durable Powers of Attorney

When you grant someone power of attorney, you share authority with them and enable them to act for you. You can limit their authority and specify when it will have effect.

Power of attorney documents generally authorize two types of decision-making authority:

• A durable financial power of attorney enables the person you designate as an agent to handle financial and legal matters. 
• A durable healthcare power of attorney authorizes someone you trust to make medical decisions for you if you are incapacitated and unable to make or communicate your own decisions.

When a power of attorney is “durable,” that means it remains in effect when the person granting the power becomes incapacitated. Traditionally, a power of attorney document would lose effect when the person who made it became incapacitated, which made the document useless at the very time it was most needed. Making the power durable avoids that problem.

Powers of Attorney are the Safer, Less Burdensome Options for Estate Planning

Many individuals who want assistance paying bills or who want loved ones to be able to help in case of emergency decide to add the name of a family member or friend to their bank accounts. However, it is a much safer option to create a power of attorney instead. When you add someone to your bank account, you make them a co-owner of that account. That means that if that person gets sued or falls into debt for some other reason, their creditors can take the money in your account. If instead, you grant that person power of attorney, they have authority to access your accounts, but they do not have ownership rights. Their creditors cannot access your money. For that reason, creating a financial power of attorney is much safer than adding someone to your bank account.

If a physical or mental condition causes you to become incapable of caring for yourself or managing your finances, your loved ones are able to assist easily if you have a power of attorney prepared. If you don’t have power of attorney or other preparations ready, then your family would need to petition the court for guardianship. This process strips you of your rights, and for that reason, courts consider it a measure of last resort. It takes considerable effort to obtain guardianship. Powers of attorney are much easier to prepare. The power may never be needed, but if it is, you will save loved ones considerable time, expense, and anguish.

We Craft Powers to Your Specifications

If a power of attorney document is not prepared or executed properly, it might not be honored by financial institutions, so it is important to ensure that the document is drafted in accordance with legal requirements. However, it is equally important to ensure that the document is tailored to your specifications so that it grants the right amount of power to the right individuals at the right time.

Our experienced team works with you to develop powers of attorney that match your needs and expectations. For instance, because of our experience with elder law and Medicaid planning, we are able to include provisions for asset protection that could save considerable resources if the need for nursing home care arises. In fact, we have written an entire book on the subject, which you can download for free here:

Photo of book and link to download guide:

Let Chesapeake Wills & Trusts Protect You with the Right Powers of Attorney

Every adult in Maryland should have a durable financial power of attorney and durable healthcare power of attorney ready to enable loved ones to assist in an emergency situation. If you don’t have these critical protections, or if the documents you have may be out-of-date, we would be happy to prepare documents to suit your needs and objectives. Schedule a consultation with Chesapeake Wills & Trusts now to get started.