By Karen Gainey
kgainey@webb-firm.com

As part of the estate planning process, many attorneys will recommend that the client sign a Financial Power of Attorney (POA).  This document allows the client to designate an agent to conduct financial transactions for the client.  It is quite common and recommended for a husband and wife to grant each other such power or a single parent to grant a trusted, adult child such power.  The document can be tailored to meet certain requests of the client, but typically it is a broad power granted to the agent and can be used by the client at any time after the formal signing.  The client does not need to be incompetent for the agent to begin using the power granted.  For those reasons, the named agent should only be someone that the client trusts implicitly. 

Although granting such power to an agent could theoretically sometimes result in abuse, the benefits to the typical client are worth the effort.  One of the main benefits is to allow the client to avoid court involvement if the client later is unable to handle his or her own finances.  If for some reason, an individual without a POA becomes unable to manage their own finances, the unfortunate alternative is to seek the appointment of a conservator through the probate court.  This process, although useful, is cumbersome, confusing and expensive.  Therefore, by going through the simple process of signing a POA, the client can save time, trouble and money.  Given the tremendous difference between simply signing a POA versus going through the process of obtaining a court appointed conservator, almost every estate client who has at least one trusted family member should sign a POA.