Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney for property management could be helpful if you ever become incapacitated. It deals with assets that were not transferred to your living trust before you became incapacitated and any assets that you receive afterward. It also empowers your agent to act on your behalf with respect to other financial matters, such as signing tax returns, or dealing with retirement benefits. (Such benefits are not transferred to a trust during one’s lifetime.) With this power of attorney, you appoint another individual (the attorney-in-fact) to make financial decisions on your behalf.

This power of attorney, however, cannot replace a living trust because, among other things, it expires when you die. It cannot provide instructions for the distribution of your assets after your death.