Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters
Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters: In this interview, Harry Margolis, the author of "Get Your Ducks in a Row," discusses durable powers of attorney for financial matters. He explains that a power of attorney appoints someone -- an attorney-in-fact -- to take care of one's financial or legal matters when one becomes incapacitated, and it is essential to have this document in place to ensure that one's bills are paid, investments are looked after, and contracts are signed if one can't do it themselves.
Key Takeaways
- Make your power of attorney effective immediately upon signing rather than 'springing' it (effective upon incapacity) to avoid banks and institutions questioning whether you're actually incapacitated when your agent tries to use it
- Name no more than 2 agents to avoid communication breakdown; consider splitting roles so one local person handles healthcare decisions and a distant child handles financial/legal matters that can be done remotely
- Include broad gifting powers in your POA document to enable Medicaid planning strategies like transferring a house to a healthy spouse if the other needs nursing home care—avoid limiting gifting to the annual tax exclusion amount
- Execute your POA with an attorney using proper formalities: notarization and two witnesses, then get institution-specific forms from your banks and financial institutions and execute those as well
- Create 3 originals of your POA (keeping one with your attorney, giving two to yourself or your agent) so financial institutions can hold one while you maintain access, and one is available if you need to record it at the registry of deeds
Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters: In this interview, Harry Margolis, the author of "Get Your Ducks in a Row," discusses durable powers of attorney for financial matters. He explains that a power of attorney appoints someone -- an attorney-in-fact -- to take care of one's financial or legal matters when one becomes incapacitated, and it is essential to have this document in place to ensure that one's bills are paid, investments are looked after, and contracts are signed if one can't do it themselves. Watch this video to learn about Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters and find more videos featuring Harry Margolis at this link: https://www.finstream.tv/featured/harry-margolis/. Harry’s book, Get Your Ducks In A Row is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001KDASYO/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=c74c3f93-02b6-4ec5-b42c-fc6c548c379d
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