Missouri Power of Attorney
A power of attorney is a legal way of granting certain powers to another individual. In a Missouri power of attorney this person is called an attorney -in-fact. The type of powers you give this person depends on the type of power of attorney you use.
A Missouri durable power of attorney is used when you are loosing your mental capabilities and want your appointed attorney-in-fact to make decisions and handle affairs for you. It is common to have a medical and a financial durable power of attorney. It is possible to add a health care directive to your medical power of attorney that would give instructions to your health care providers and your attorney-in-fact. Say for instance you did not want any life support to be used, these instructions would have to be followed.
Non-durable powers of attorney are normally effective immediately and become invalid if you ever become mentally incapacitated. These are used for many every day business and personal needs and can be either a general power of attorney or a specific power of attorney.
A general power of attorney grants a wide range of powers while a special power of attorney is used for granting limited authority. A general power of attorney might be used if you were leaving the country on a trip and wanted someone at home to be able to either take care of things for you or just be available in case of an emergency. If you had a real estate deal closing while you were gone you could use a Missouri special property power of attorney, allowing someone to sign the deed for you.
Your Missouri estate planning attorney may have mentioned including a springing power of attorney in your estate plan. A springing power of attorney only becomes effective when a certain event occurs. A springing durable medical power of attorney would become immediately effective if you were involved in an auto accident and could not make decisions for yourself. If you already have durable powers of attorney you would not need to add a springing power of attorney. They are both meant to care for you when you are unable to but the springing power of attorney does not become effective until it is needed, usually when a doctor declares you mentally incapacitated.
Missouri power of attorney forms are available at Legal Zoom. You can fill these out yourself or you can have an attorney do them for you.
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