Power Up (Legal Edition)

One of the most popular requests Newton Law PLLC is seeing currently are requests for medical and financial power of attorney documents, or POAs. You may have heard them mentioned if your grandparents or parents are getting older, or if someone you know had a bad accident, and needs full time care. They are a great tool….in the right hands. Let me explain.

What POAs do are simple: they specify that in the event some event occurs, usually the incapacitation of the person for whom the POA concerns, that a trusted friend or family member or third party trustee will be the one to make medical or financial decisions for that person. It can be really helpful with memory issues, or mental decline. That way, the person for whom the POA is being sought can rest assured that they and their assets will be taken care of. Another case could be an adult with cognitive disabilities, who needs help managing finances and medical care. That person’s parent may be getting elderly, and passes the POA that may have been granted to them years before, to the person’s sibling, to ensure smooth care for the person even after the passing of the parent. Another option for which POAs are useful are long time partners that don’t want to be married or cannot be married, for any number of reasons. POAs mean that the person you trust most, your partner, is making the decisions for you, and not necessarily your closest relatives, who may not be close to you at all.

The trick is to pick the right person. In most cases, a spouse or sibling is the most popular choice. That person would know your wishes, and could communicate them most effectively, in most cases. However, there could be unforeseen issues. For example, what if your spouse is your medical POA, but you are both unconscious from the same car accident? There are any number of issues that can arise, but having a solid plan filed can take a bunch of stress off your shoulders, and those of your loved ones.