by Anita Schnee, Attorney at Law
Yes. It’s easy to find an eight-page fill-in-the-blanks power of attorney on-line. So why would you need thirty pages?
The answer: Look what can happen without one. This is based on a true story.
John’s second marriage to Katy in Kansas wasn’t going well. Katy kept giving money to Kyle, her son from a former marriage, who never paid anything back. John was close with his son Jeff from his first marriage, but Jeff lived in Arizona.
One day John fell and hit his head. He was hospitalized briefly but he needed longer care. Unfortunately, Kyle took control of John’s phone, ID, and keys, and then put John into a Kansas nursing home. Kyle then pressured Katy to join him in suing for guardianship over John. If this suit succeeded, Kyle would get direct access to all John’s money.
Jeff finally caught wind of this. He got John released from the nursing home and brought him back to Arizona. Jeff and John then fought Kyle and Katy long-distance, paying a Kansas attorney and traveling back and forth until they finally defeated the guardianship. John then divorced Katy and is now safe and happy with Jeff in Arizona.
What should John have done instead?
He should have given Jeff the legal power to speak for him, if John should ever be unable to do so himself – in case of a head injury, for example. This power is given through documents called powers of attorney. Everybody over the age of eighteen should have these, but especially seniors.
Powers of attorney documents would have expressly blocked the guardianship suit and given Jeff the right to protect his father’s bank account. Jeff could have gotten John’s mail forwarded and paid the taxes and bills. He could have helped John maintain his standard of living and his choices about where he should be cared for. Jeff could have sold John’s house and made sure that he got the money he was due. Jeff could create trusts for John, to protect John’s entitlement to government benefits. John loved his dog back in Kansas. Jeff could have used John’s money to get the dog back.
Would a fill-in-the-blanks document do all that? Not hardly, or just maybe, but “maybe” is not what you want to hear in an emergency. The answer is much more likely “yes” when you get powers of attorney from us. They’re long for a reason – because they’re necessarily thorough.
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Anita Schnee is an attorney licensed in Arkansas with the law firms of the Elder Law Practice of Cash and Whatley, and Mitch Cash Ltd.
* This article appears on sites for Mitch Cash Law, Ltd. and the Elder Law Practice of Cash and Whately.
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