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A power of attorney is a document by which someone appoints an agent to act for them. The person doing the appointing is called the principal. The person appointed is the agent. At one time an agent was called an attorney in fact. This is where the word attorney in the document title comes from. It has nothing to do with a lawyer or attorney at law. The right to act as agent, or the agency, terminates on the death or disability of the principal. Statutes in most states provide that the agency can continue in effect after the principal becomes disabled. If the power meets the standards of the statute it is called a durable power of attorney - because it endures beyond the point of disability. The agent is not authorized to deal with the principal's property after death (although in some statutes the agent can be authorized to act with respect to funeral arrangements and organ donation). A durable power of attorney is a way to avoid a guardianship, but not a way to avoid probate of a decedent's estate. || Back
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Donald M. Thompson * 55
W. Monroe #3950; Chicago, IL 60603 - Illinois Probate Law |
