Enhance General Power of Attorney Legitimacy with Digital Signatures in the United States

How to eSign a document: digital signature legitimacy for General Power of Attorney in United States

hey there i'm paul Rabelais i'm an estate planning attorney and in this video i'm gonna talk all about power of attorney something just about everybody does hmm often misunderstood so I'm gonna lay out really 10/10 critical points that affect people when they either are creating a power of attorney or they've been appointed by someone else who created a power of attorney so I'm Paul Rabelais estate planning attorney help our clients all around Louisiana get and keep their legal affairs in order so first let me go over what is a power of attorney so power attorney is something that just about everybody does when they're getting all of their legal affairs in order but it's a it's an instrument or a legal document where you give someone else the authority to transact for you and then we're gonna you know dig into some of the details here so I want to give you ten key points about power of attorney the first four are gonna be really more definitions but you need to know the definitions and then the final six are really practical things that affect people when they're creating or trying to use a power of attorney so point 1 is just a definition and you know we hear people come in the office a lot and say I want I think I want a general power of attorney so you know what does general mean and in general in general means that it's a it's a comprehensive power of attorney it's a power of attorney that you create where you designate someone to be able to do things like pay your bills and deal with third parties on your behalf it's you know designed to be comprehensive so that's what the general power of attorney is and some people though they don't want a general power of attorney they want what we often call a limited power of attorney it might say Paul I'm I'm going out of town for the next three weeks my house is closing next week I'm not gonna be around I want to appoint my friend Fred to have power of attorney but I only want Fred to be able to you know sign for me at the closing I don't want Fred to be able to do anything else for me so that's what's called a limited power of attorney it's limited in its scope and its purpose sometimes it has a deadline so that's that you know power of attorney that you create for a limited purpose number three durable power of attorney what does that mean well a durable power of attorney means it remains effective even after you become incapacitated and quite frankly that's the main reason why people create powers of attorney so they can have some trusted person be able to take care of things for themselves when they do become incapacitated oh by the way here in Louisiana where we are all powers of attorney are durable even if there's not that durable language in the power of attorney for attorney in Louisiana it's effective until you die and so it's effective throughout your incapacity nonetheless some thirty third parties out there they want to see all that durable language in there so we put it in there you know just in case point number four what is a springing power of attorney so some people feel like hey Paul I want my son to have power of attorney farm for me but while I'm you know while I got my right mind I don't want my son to have power of attorney I don't you know maybe he's he might get influenced by his wife to do something stupid so I want my power of attorney only to become effective when I become incapacitated while I'm well while I'm healthy nobody's gonna have power of attorney for me that's a springing power of attorney it springs into effect when you become incapacitated the key there is clearly defining that standard for determining your incapacity probably worth mentioning in this video that sometimes you know when that person needs to use it and they've got to meet that definition and and fulfill you know the requirements that you're incapacitated sometimes it's tough for them to get the doctors to sign those affidavits that you're incapacitated if that's the appropriate standard so a lot of people let's say most people make their their powers of attorney immediate as opposed to springing but be aware that springing exists so there's your first four definitions general limited durable and springing now let's get into some of the practical practical effects to to fill out kind of numbers five through ten about power of attorney explained number five people ask me the paul paul people ask me the question Paul if I give this person power of attorney can they go to the bank and clean me out well there's a short answer and a long answer I guess the short answer is yeah you know you're giving them the authority to track on to to transact on your behalf so if you give them power of attorney they can deal with your banks and your other financial institutions now is it is it within the rules that they do that of course not so they're bound to do things on your behalf and by going and and taking the money out of your bank and using it for themselves they're they're stealing your money that's that's theft or whatever crime you want to call it so can they go and clean you out yes is that theft yes so they're bound to do things that are in your best interest hence you know appointing the right people point number six is there certain language that needs to be power of attorney some people they come in the office oh mama gave me power of attorney here it is I can do whatever it is that they're needing to do not so fast because there are certain powers that must be expressly stated in the power of attorney for that person to be able to do those things a few of the common ones are the power to make donations it must be expressly stated in the power of attorney that that person has the power to make donations on behalf of the person who signed the power of attorney the power to deal with successions the Peyer power to buy or sell ally or lease a thing and the power to make healthcare decisions must be expressly stated in the power of attorney so now that come of the practical effect is is some people will sign to powers of attorney one for health care matters and one for general you know financial matters because some people want different people making the health care versus the fine financial decisions it can be one power of attorney but oftentimes it's done you know in two different legal documents so realize there are certain things that must be expressly stated in the power of attorney for that person that you designate to have the authority to do point number seven Paul can I point two or more people to have power of attorney for me so the short answer is yes the long answer is if you you know if you appoint two or more people Paul I have two kids I don't want to offend either one of them by appointing one of them as having power of attorney for me so as since I don't want to offend them I'm gonna I want both of them to work together so yes can you do that yes but the the longer answer is you know many third parties out there whether it's banks whether it's brokerage firms they don't want to have to deal with two people together acting on your behalf and sometimes they won't honor that power of attorney where you stated that two or more people have to work together on your behalf to get something done so oftentimes when we appoint two or more people often times we say they can act jointly or separately and that eliminates all the problems with third parties honoring that but so just be aware that that exists point number eight for what I just said earlier but worth reiterating third parties can't be forced to honor your power of attorney so seeing that before dad signs a power of attorney appointing son as what we call agent dad becomes incapacitated now sons got a deal with dad's business so son goes to dad's bank and for some reason bank says we're not gonna honor it they may say it's too old they may not like the wording of it there's something there where the bank doesn't like it and son is now stuck because there's no rule that says son can force the bank to honor dad's power of attorney and if the bank doesn't honor it and there's business that has to be done then son may have to hire a lawyers go through a guardianship proceeding and get court orders that the banks would be required to honor so again causes some some difficulty there and so need to know that ahead of time point number nine Paul does the power of attorney have to be recorded does it have to be no but there may be some instances where third parties will require that your power of attorney be recorded and then at the at the courthouse and then the courthouse issues what's called certified copies of the power of attorney that third parties will rely on because it's just our rule our power of attorney rules that say third parties you know can rely on things that are recorded at the courthouse so really does it have to be recorded and not necessarily it depends on the third party that you're trying to present the power of attorney to if you bring a copy of the power of attorney that your father signed and you bring that to the bank and they say good enough for us then there's no requirement that it be recorded but if you're trying to sell dad's home and the and the title examiners as son we're not gonna let you sign on behalf of that and until that power of attorney gets recorded then it's gonna need to get recorded so there's you know I've got to deal with those issues and then maybe my tenth and final point is the power of attorney stops when you die so sometimes mom comes into the office mom has a brokerage account at ABC brokerage firm and mom says you know this is gonna be easy for my daughter to handle when I die because my daughter's got power of attorney so when I die my daughter can just go to ABC brokerage firm and she can have access and pay bills divide up the the investments among the kids and that's gonna be easy she can avoid probate well I'm gonna happen because if daughter has power of attorney that power stops when mom dies and then that accounts going to be frozen and ABC investment firm is going to need to see all of the necessary probate or succession court orders in order to release the funds to the heirs so power of attorney stops when you die all right so the the conclusion among all of that is or what do you take away from it is do these things make these decisions while you're well once you become incapacitated you cannot create a power of attorney and by the way if you're incapacitated and there's something that needs to be done on your behalf and you haven't done a power of attorney then your your loved ones are gonna go through a treacherous court proceeding which is no fun it's called an interdiction it's where your family will sue you to have you declared incompetent very procedurally difficult and a judge will have to declare you incompetent after a bunch of procedural stuff gets followed and time delays lapse and then a judge will appoint someone to be your guard and that's all an absence of having a power of attorney that works so do this stuff while you're well do it right make informed decisions and then the second piece of advice that I have is appoint people that you trust and that's that's a tough one because yes you you may trust this person and feel like they'll do a good job for you but this person that you appointed may not get along with one of your other heirs or family members and so you want to make sure that you appoint people who not only are gonna do what is in your best interest but you want to make sure that they're not gonna think do things in their best interest particularly if they have relationship issues with other people who may inherit from you down the road so appoint the right people people that you trust and people that are responsible and people that you know are gonna take actions that are 100 percent in your best interest so what I want you to do in the comments below is as they say I saw an AARP statistic that about 70 percent of people over 70 have a power of attorney in place so in the comments below you know comment if you have one in place and if so what was the basis on how you selected the person that you gave power of attorney to was it because they were your oldest child or was it because you trusted them a certain way in addition make sure you hit the subscribe button and the notification bill that pops up that way YouTube will keep you informed of other educational videos that we that we deliver and then of course punch the thumbs up button so that you know YouTube will show this to more people which is all fantastic okay so that's the kind of basics power of attorney explained it's just one piece of the overall comprehensive estate planning program that you need to put in place to to keep things in the family and make it easy for those that you love and leave behind so I'm Paul Rabelais hope this helps have a great day