Montana Power of Attorney
A power of attorney is a legal document giving another person certain powers to act in your behalf. In a Montana power of attorney the person you grant this power to is called your agent.
Your Montana estate planning attorney is probably going to want to see a couple of springing powers of attorney in your estate plan. Springing powers of attorney are designed to become effective if a given event occurs.
A durable power of attorney is one that is effective when you are in need of someone to take care of some, or all, of your decisions making. Anytime you are mentally unsound a durable power of attorney can be used. A springing durable power of attorney is one you set up to give your agent immediate powers should an accident ever leave you mentally incompetent, but is not effective until that time.
The two powers of attorney most often used in an estate plan are a springing durable medical power of attorney and a springing durable financial power of attorney. The agent listed in these documents should be able to take anything that needs attention should you ever be unable to. You may think that your spouse should automatically have these powers anyway, but that is not always the case.
Non-durable powers of attorney become void if you are ever mentally incompetent. A non durable, or normal, power of attorney can be either a general or a special. A general power of attorney grants a very wide range of powers while a special power of attorney is very limited.
For the purposes of estate planning it is normal practice to list your spouse as your agent on some of your powers of attorney forms. Many states automatically void these documents if you were to ever get a divorce. Your Montana power of attorney stays in effect until you change it. At the time of a divorce a lot of paperwork needs attended to, don't neglect your powers of attorney.
Montana power of attorney forms can be found at Legal Zoom, and in most cases you do not need a lawyer to fill them out. Be careful, however, with the durable ones, they need to be done correctly the first time.
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