It’s a scary world out there, and it can be hard to know what steps you need to take to protect yourself. You may not realize it, but the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones are by establishing a power of attorney.
The Power of Attorney is an important document that you need to have to protect your assets. This can be helpful in case you become incapacitated and cannot make your own medical or financial decisions.
A local attorney Atlanta will provide advice on protecting yourself and your loved ones with this critical document. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the power of attorney and how they can help protect you and your family.
Let’s get started.
What is the Power of Attorney?
A power of attorney is a document that gives legal authority to an individual, known as an “agent” or “attorney”, allowing them to act on behalf of another person, known as the “principal” or “owner”. A power of attorney can be broad and will enable the agent to make decisions about all aspects of a principal’s life, including healthcare, or it can be limited only to specific tasks such as real estate transactions.
If you have a lawful power of attorney, then the person you name would be legally allowed to take care of critical affairs for you if you’re unable to do so yourself, such as paying your rent, handling your finances, or overseeing your medical treatment. The asset protection attorney will go over how to protect your assets at all times.
Financial Power of Attorney
The financial power of attorney is a document you create that authorizes someone to manage monetary operations on your behalf. Many financial powers of attorney are relatively basic and are only used for one-time transactions, like finalizing a real estate sale.
However, the power of attorney we’re talking about is more extensive; it’s meant to allow somebody to oversee all of your financial dealings when you become incompetent. This is termed as A “durable power of attorney for finances”.
Medical Power of Attorney
One sort of healthcare directive is a medical power of attorney, a document that sets out your mental wellbeing desires if you become too ill or damaged to talk for oneself. Your health care agents will collaborate with healthcare professionals to ensure you’re getting the medical treatment that you desire.
Your agent is lawfully obligated to follow your treatment choices to the degree that he or she is aware of them while organizing your care.
Why Would You Need Distinct Medical & Financial Documents?
You might be wondering why you can’t combine health-care and financial problems in a single power of attorney paper. Well, it isn’t true. You can do so, but it’s not a brilliant idea. Having separate documents will make your agent’s and others’ lives much easier.
This is because your healthcare documents include personal information and maybe sentiments which your financial broker doesn’t require. Similarly, your healthcare providers don’t need to know about your financial situation and details.
Moreover, in the future, when you become incompetent, it will undoubtedly be easier for your agent to carry out their job with two separate documents.
The Bottom Line
A power of attorney gives you the ability to protect yourself, your assets and your loved ones. Everyone must have one in place to plan for their future and that of their family. It’s essential to work with the best estate attorney whom you trust and can discuss your options. You want someone who will be there for you in the future, not just during the planning stage.
