Why a POA Matters – Part 3
In this third blog post of three I explain the types of scenarios we have seen in our office in which a prospective client has a power of attorney, just not specific enough to allow the agent to take the action needed. As I explained last week, a document that contains
Why a POA Matters – Part 2
In last week’s blog post I explained that a power of attorney is an especially important document in the event of a medical crisis. It allows someone to act on your behalf to make financial and/or medical decisions if you can’t make them yourself. Simply having such a document, however, isn’t enough. What
Why a POA Matters – Part 1
Whenever we get a call from a family in the midst of a medical crisis, one of the first questions we ask is whether there is a power of attorney. If so, we want to review that document. I have written about this very basic but often overlooked document in the past
Why You Need a Carefully Drafted POA (Part 1)
In this week’s blog post I want to talk about a call we received from a family member of a client whose power of attorney we prepared about 12 years ago. The son who called was acting as agent for his mother and needed to access her IRA account. The bank where
The Power of the Power of Attorney – Part 2
In my post last week, I wrote about 2 recent calls from former clients of ours that highlight the importance of a power of attorney. Our power of attorney is very detailed and designed to cover as many different situations as possible - even though as I always say that as to any one
The Power of the Power of Attorney – Part 1
Two recent calls to our office highlight once again the importance of the power of attorney - a deceptively simple document that can be obtained off the internet but which, if it is to be at all useful, must be carefully tailored and specific to the anticipated tasks that the agent may be called
What Exactly am I Authorized to Do with a POA? Part 2
In last week’s blog post I started talking about the different types of powers of attorney. While it is important to have a power of attorney in place it is equally important to understand what it covers – what powers it confers upon the agent.
What Exactly am I Authorized to Do with a POA? (Part 1)
In my blog post this week I want to talk about the different types of powers of attorney and the confusion people sometimes have concerning what exactly each document allows them to do. Although different people may choose to use different names, I prefer to categorize the ability each
Resistance to Power of Attorney – Part 3
In this week’s post we continue with the topic of power of attorney and specifically how to handle resistance from banks and financial institutions. Last week I outlined the scenarios in which a bank can refuse to honor a power of attorney. New Jersey law says that a banking
Resistance to Power of Attorney – Part 2
Last week’s post again addressed the use of powers of attorney and specifically the problem of encountering resistance by a financial institution. As I explained, many financial institutions prefer that customers sign their own form of power of attorney and do so in front of one of their employees.