Power of Attorney

What is a Power of Attorney?

A Power of Attorney is a written document stating that one person gives to another the full power and authority to represent him or her.  The person who gives the power is the principal, and the person who receives the power is the Attorney-in-Fact or Agent. 

A Power of Attorney must be signed by both the Agent and the principal, and should be notarized if it will involve real property or if the Power of Attorney is to be recorded.

There are may ways to designate a decision-maker for you with a Power of Attorney document.  You can assign a General Power of Attorney that covers all of your legal, financial and personal decisions except those pertaining to your medical care and treatment, or a Limited Power of Attorney that only covers decision-making in areas that you specify. 

You can have your Power of Attorney made immediately effective, which means that the Agent has the power to represent you now.  If you also make the Power of Attorney Durable, the Agent's power to represent you will remain in effect in the event you become mentally unable to make decisions on you own (incompetent).  Or, you can make it Springing, which means that it becomes effective only in the event you become incompetent.  A very popular use of the Power of Attorney has absolutely nothing to do with mental incompetence.  Many military people and overseas contractors prepare Powers of Attorney that are immediately effective, so their wives, husbans or other family members in the United States can deposit paychecks, make purchases, pay bill and otherwise represent them financially or legally while they are away or otherwise not available to handle these matters themselves.

If you need to appoint someone to make health care related decisions, you will need a Power of Attorney for Health Care.  In California that document is also known as an Advance Health Care Directive.  By means of an Advance Health Care Directive, you decide in advance what medical care and treatment you receive if you ever become unable to specify those wishes yourself.  For example, you can designate whether you wish to be kept on life prolonging machines if there is no longer any hope that you will recover from an accident or long-term terminal medical condition, whether or not you want food or hydration, whether or not you medication to make you more comfortable and other decisions of this nature.  Wouldn't it be better for you make these decisions while you are able to instead of forcing your family to make them when you can't?

1-Day Document Assistance is a document preparation service.  We can help you create your Power of Attorney from the convenience and privacy of you home or office.  Simply complete the questionnaire and submit; we do the rest! You can email us any additional information that did not fit on the online form. We can then start processing your information right away.

We have been saving people money since 1990 and hope we can be of help to you or someone you know. If you have any questions please contact us (805) 582-6172 or email: 1daydocs@adelphia.net.

You can download our questionnaire for Power of Attorney and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not own a copy of Acrobat Reader, we have provided the link for a FREE copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.