Ask Roxy is a public service blog from the Law Offices of Roxanne Sher Olson (www.roxanneolson.com). Roxanne is an attorney in Santa Cruz, CA. Email your questions to askroxy@roxanneolson.com
A power of attorney is a document that gives the agent you appoint the power to handle your financial affairs. The agent has a fiduciary duty to use your assets for your benefit and they only have the powers you give them in the document. There are “limited” power of attorney documents that grant only certain powers (like access to one particular bank account for one purpose or it could be temporally limited: you might decide to appoint an agent a power of attorney over all financial affairs during a scheduled hospital stay). There are also “general” power of attorney documents that are meant to allow agents to handle most or all of your financial matters. The powers and limitations are listed in the document.
Often when we think about appointing an agent for power of attorney we are worried about something happening suddenly to cause incapacity. You may think, “I need to set up a power of attorney so my loved one can access my bank account if I’m in a car accident.” That is true, but when it comes to assisting the elderly the reality is often not so clear cut. Many times incapacity edges slowly in like a rising tide, with individual days ebbing and flowing like waves, and the line where capacity and incapacity meet is far from clear.
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