hey there i'm paul Rabelais i'm an
estate planning attorney and in this
video i'm gonna talk all about power of
attorney something just about everybody
does hmm often misunderstood so I'm
gonna lay out really 10/10 critical
points that affect people when they
either are creating a power of attorney
or they've been appointed by someone
else who created a power of attorney so
I'm Paul Rabelais estate planning
attorney help our clients all around
Louisiana get and keep their legal
affairs in order so first let me go over
what is a power of attorney so power
attorney is something that just about
everybody does when they're getting all
of their legal affairs in order but it's
a it's an instrument or a legal document
where you give someone else the
authority to transact for you and then
we're gonna you know dig into some of
the details here so I want to give you
ten key points about power of attorney
the first four are gonna be really more
definitions but you need to know the
definitions and then the final six are
really practical things that affect
people when they're creating or trying
to use a power of attorney so point 1 is
just a definition and you know we hear
people come in the office a lot and say
I want I think I want a general power of
attorney so you know what does general
mean and in general in general means
that it's a it's a comprehensive power
of attorney it's a power of attorney
that you create where you designate
someone to be able to do things like pay
your bills and deal with third parties
on your behalf it's you know designed to
be comprehensive so that's what the
general power of attorney is and some
people though they don't want a general
power of attorney they want what we
often call a limited power of attorney
it might say Paul I'm I'm going out of
town for the next three weeks my house
is closing next week I'm not gonna be
around
I want to appoint my friend Fred to have
power of attorney but I only want Fred
to be able to you know sign for me
at the closing I don't want Fred to be
able to do anything else for me so
that's what's called a limited power of
attorney it's limited in its scope and
its purpose sometimes it has a deadline
so that's that you know power of
attorney that you create for a limited
purpose number three durable power of
attorney what does that mean well a
durable power of attorney means it
remains effective even after you become
incapacitated and quite frankly that's
the main reason why people create powers
of attorney so they can have some
trusted person be able to take care of
things for themselves when they do
become incapacitated oh by the way here
in Louisiana where we are all powers of
attorney are durable even if there's not
that durable language in the power of
attorney for attorney in Louisiana it's
effective until you die and so it's
effective throughout your incapacity
nonetheless some thirty third parties
out there they want to see all that
durable language in there so we put it
in there you know just in case point
number four what is a springing power of
attorney so some people feel like hey
Paul I want my son to have power of
attorney farm for me but while I'm you
know while I got my right mind I don't
want my son to have power of attorney I
don't you know maybe he's he might get
influenced by his wife to do something
stupid so I want my power of attorney
only to become effective when I become
incapacitated while I'm well while I'm
healthy nobody's gonna have power of
attorney for me that's a springing power
of attorney it springs into effect when
you become incapacitated the key there
is clearly defining that standard for
determining your incapacity probably
worth mentioning in this video that
sometimes you know when that person
needs to use it and they've got to meet
that definition and and fulfill you know
the requirements that you're
incapacitated sometimes it's tough for
them to get the doctors to sign those
affidavits that you're incapacitated if
that's the appropriate standard so a lot
of people let's say most people make
their their powers of attorney immediate
as opposed to springing but be aware
that springing exists so there's your
first four definitions general limited
durable and springing now let's get into
some of the practical practical effects
to to fill out kind of numbers five
through ten about power of attorney
explained number five people ask me the
paul paul people ask me the question
Paul if I give this person power of
attorney can they go to the bank and
clean me out well there's a short answer
and a long answer I guess the short
answer is yeah you know you're giving
them the authority to track on to to
transact on your behalf so if you give
them power of attorney they can deal
with your banks and your other financial
institutions now is it is it within the
rules that they do that of course not so
they're bound to do things on your
behalf and by going and and taking the
money out of your bank and using it for
themselves they're they're stealing your
money that's that's theft or whatever
crime you want to call it so can they go
and clean you out yes is that theft yes
so they're bound to do things that are
in your best interest
hence you know appointing the right
people point number six is there certain
language that needs to be power of
attorney
some people they come in the office oh
mama gave me power of attorney here it
is I can do whatever it is that they're
needing to do not so fast because there
are certain powers that must be
expressly stated in the power of
attorney for that person to be able to
do those things a few of the common ones
are the power to make donations it must
be expressly stated in the power of
attorney that that person has the power
to make
donations on behalf of the person who
signed the power of attorney the power
to deal with successions the Peyer power
to buy or sell ally or lease a thing and
the power to make healthcare decisions
must be expressly stated in the power of
attorney so now that come of the
practical effect is is some people will
sign to powers of attorney one for
health care matters and one for general
you know financial matters because some
people want different people making the
health care versus the fine financial
decisions it can be one power of
attorney but oftentimes it's done you
know in two different legal documents so
realize there are certain things that
must be expressly stated in the power of
attorney for that person that you
designate to have the authority to do
point number seven Paul can I point two
or more people to have power of attorney
for me so the short answer is yes the
long answer is if you you know if you
appoint two or more people Paul I have
two kids I don't want to offend either
one of them by appointing one of them as
having power of attorney for me
so as since I don't want to offend them
I'm gonna I want both of them to work
together so yes can you do that yes but
the the longer answer is you know many
third parties out there whether it's
banks whether it's brokerage firms they
don't want to have to deal with two
people together acting on your behalf
and sometimes they won't honor that
power of attorney where you stated that
two or more people have to work together
on your behalf to get something done so
oftentimes when we appoint two or more
people often times we say they can act
jointly or separately and that
eliminates all the problems with third
parties honoring that but so just be
aware that that exists point number
eight for what I just said earlier but
worth reiterating third parties can't be
forced to honor your power of attorney
so seeing that before
dad signs a power of attorney appointing
son
as what we call agent dad becomes
incapacitated
now sons got a deal with dad's business
so son goes to dad's bank and for some
reason bank says we're not gonna honor
it they may say it's too old they may
not like the wording of it there's
something there
where the bank doesn't like it and son
is now stuck because there's no rule
that says son can force the bank to
honor dad's power of attorney and if the
bank doesn't honor it and there's
business that has to be done then son
may have to hire a lawyers go through a
guardianship proceeding and get court
orders that the banks would be required
to honor so again causes some some
difficulty there and so need to know
that ahead of time point number nine
Paul does the power of attorney have to
be recorded does it have to be no but
there may be some instances where third
parties will require that your power of
attorney be recorded and then at the at
the courthouse and then the courthouse
issues what's called certified copies of
the power of attorney that third parties
will rely on because it's just our rule
our power of attorney rules that say
third parties you know can rely on
things that are recorded at the
courthouse so really does it have to be
recorded and not necessarily it depends
on the third party that you're trying to
present the power of attorney to if you
bring a copy of the power of attorney
that your father signed and you bring
that to the bank and they say good
enough for us then there's no
requirement that it be recorded but if
you're trying to sell dad's home and the
and the title examiners
as son we're not gonna let you sign on
behalf of that and until that power of
attorney gets recorded then it's gonna
need to get recorded so there's you know
I've got to deal with those issues and
then maybe my tenth and final point is
the power of attorney stops when you die
so sometimes mom comes into the office
mom has a brokerage account at ABC
brokerage firm and mom says you know
this is gonna be easy for my daughter to
handle when I die because my daughter's
got power of attorney so when I die my
daughter can just go to ABC brokerage
firm and she can have access and pay
bills divide up the the investments
among the kids and that's gonna be easy
she can avoid probate well I'm gonna
happen because if daughter has power of
attorney that power stops when mom dies
and then that accounts going to be
frozen and ABC investment firm is going
to need to see all of the necessary
probate or succession court orders in
order to release the funds to the heirs
so power of attorney stops when you die
all right so the the conclusion among
all of that is or what do you take away
from it is do these things make these
decisions while you're well once you
become incapacitated you cannot create a
power of attorney and by the way if
you're incapacitated and there's
something that needs to be done on your
behalf and you haven't done a power of
attorney then your your loved ones are
gonna go through a treacherous court
proceeding which is no fun it's called
an interdiction it's where your family
will sue you to have you declared
incompetent very procedurally difficult
and a judge will have to declare you
incompetent after a bunch of procedural
stuff gets followed and time delays
lapse and then a judge will appoint
someone to be your guard
and that's all an absence of having a
power of attorney that works so do this
stuff while you're well do it right make
informed decisions and then the second
piece of advice that I have is appoint
people that you trust and that's that's
a tough one because yes you you may
trust this person and feel like they'll
do a good job for you but this person
that you appointed may not get along
with one of your other heirs or family
members and so you want to make sure
that you appoint people who not only are
gonna do what is in your best interest
but you want to make sure that they're
not gonna think do things in their best
interest particularly if they have
relationship issues with other people
who may inherit from you down the road
so appoint the right people people that
you trust and people that are
responsible and people that you know are
gonna take actions that are 100 percent
in your best interest so what I want you
to do in the comments below is as they
say I saw an AARP statistic that about
70 percent of people over 70 have a
power of attorney in place so in the
comments below
you know comment if you have one in
place and if so what was the basis on
how you selected the person that you
gave power of attorney to was it because
they were your oldest child or was it
because you trusted them a certain way
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so that's the kind of basics power of
attorney explained it's just one piece
of the overall comprehensive estate
planning program that you need to put in
place to to keep things in the family
and make it easy for those that you love
and leave behind
so I'm Paul Rabelais hope this helps
have a great day