Kansas Power of Attorney
Has your Kansas estate planning attorney suggested the use of powers of attorney as an addition to your existing estate documents? You may have discussed the addition of a durable financial power of attorney and a durable medical power of attorney. These are important forms and should definitely be part of your estate plan. Your durable powers of attorney should probably be professionally prepared for you, because you would have trouble correcting a problem if you are mentally incapable.
Durable powers of attorney are the ones that become effective only if you are declared mentally incompetent. They get filed next to your will and life insurance policies and you hope you never need them. If you were to be involved in accident that left you temporarily incapacitated these forms could become very important. They would give your spouse, or anyone else you may have chosen, the power to immediately start making decisions for you. Having these forms on hand is much faster than waiting on a judge to grant the same powers.
A durable medical power of attorney gives the person you appoint the power to make all of your medical decisions for you. A separate health directive can be added to you power of attorney spelling out exactly how you want to be treated. Your appointed agent and your health care providers are then bound to follow your instructions to the best of their ability.
Your durable financial power of attorney grants the power to take over all of your financial affairs. This could include paying your bills, depositing money into your bank account or running your business. A lot of things can go bad if there is any kind of time lag between your accident and someone taking over. Your power of attorney becomes effective immediately and business carries on in your absence.
Normal powers of attorney become void if you are ever declared mentally incapacitated. They are still important and useful in many ways. These fall into two groups, general and special. A general power of attorney grants a wide range of powers to the person of your choosing. Special powers of attorney are very specific. They are often called specific or limited powers of attorney. An example would be a property power of attorney given to a realtor to work a property through escrow in your absence. Another example is the vehicle power of attorney used to transfer titles when the owner is unavailable.
The person you are giving authority to in a Kansas power of attorney is called an attorney-in-fact. If you appoint your spouse as your attorney-in-fact, as is very common, this document is automatically voided if you ever get a divorce. Don't forget to create new ones when time allows.
Kansas power of attorney forms are available at Legal Zoom and in most cases these can be filled out and filed without the need of an attorney.
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