Before you can spend time filling out the power of attorney documents found on our website, you will need to know what these documents accomplish. Power of Attorney documents is set up to give legal authorisation to a specific person regarding your health and personal needs in the event that you are unable to care for yourself. Many individuals who create Wills and Living Wills will also have one person they want to take over the power of attorney if it becomes necessary. With Power of Attorney documents, you still must be legally competent to sign the documents. In other words, if you are found legally incompetent you cannot sign the papers, but instead, the agent taking over Power of Attorney must seek the legal cause in court.
Revocation of Power of Attorney
Power of Attorney documents can be general or relating to a specific act such as selling the property once the person granting the Power of Attorney becomes unable to make their own decisions. A situation in which you might need a power of attorney could be a person suffering from Alzheimer’s, who no longer can make decisions for themselves. Another person would have to step in to pay bills, get care for the person, and manage the estate.
Often in a situation of Power of Attorney the grantee is a relative. However, it can also be an Attorney, estate lawyer, or other professional personnel who is more impartial to the proceedings. Sometimes it is better to have an impartial person involved when it comes to the estate to ensure no miss handling occurs.
Our website offers several types of Power of Attorney documents. You will find General Power of Attorney templates, Lasting Power of Attorney documents, and Deed of Revocation of Power of Attorney templates. The templates supplied on this site are easy to read, customise, and have signed by the pertinent parties. You will need a witness to the signing process to declare the signers mentally competent to give Power of Attorney to the other party.
Ordinary or general Power of Attorney is the most commonly used document on our site. This document provides a set period of time in which the donor will relinquish Power of Attorney. For example, if you are gaining a job overseas for a year you can grant Power of Attorney to a relative or attorney in the UK to look over your estate while you are gone. There is a limited amount of time the Power of Attorney will be in place. Once the specific time is over you will regain control of your estate. You can end the period early with a deed of revocation, but more on that later.
Lasting Power of Attorney, previously Enduring Power of Attorney, is also used a great deal, especially when individuals become older. The Lasting Power of Attorney document sets an individual up to look after the property and financial affairs of a person. Health and personal welfare decisions are also taken care of under the Lasting Power of Attorney. This type of document is what would be used in our example above with the Alzheimer patient. The person signs over everything, trusting the person with Power of Attorney will make the right decisions that they can no longer make. Lasting Power of Attorney documents must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.
Since the person is wholly responsible for the granter’s life there are safety procedures in place to make sure there is no misuse of the estate, or that health is not being ignored. With Power of Attorney situations, it is easy for a representative of another person to misuse their power, and in 2005 the laws changed to ensure a more active role by the Office of the Public Guardian to safeguard against the misuse of a Power of Attorney.
The last document our website offers is the Deed of Revocation of Power of Attorney. As the name implies, this document will take the Power of Attorney from the individual currently overseeing your estate. There is a time limit on the document, but you might want to end it early, thus you will need to file a Deed of Revocation. You can also file a Deed of Revocation if you were mentally incompetent but are no longer incompetent.