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A Power of Attorney for Property is a document that empowers another individual to carry on your financial affairs in the event you become disabled or incapacitated. Although the document is titled “Power of Attorney for Property,” it is not limited to management of your real estate during your incapacity. Rather, it can be drafted to encompass a very wide array of your personal legal and financial powers. For example, you can delegate your right to sign a contract, your right to open or close one of your bank accounts, or to sign your tax return, to your agent to carry out for you when you are unable to do so yourself during your incapacity.
This could be helpful if, for example, you became incapacitated while you were in the middle of rolling over an IRA, about to sign your tax return, or in the process of purchasing a particular financial investment (e.g., buying a certificate of deposit or opening an investment account). If these powers are included in your document, your agent would have the legal authority to complete these transactions for you.
In this type of document, the person signing it and granting the authority is called the “principal,” and the person to whom such authority is granted is called the “agent” (sometimes referred to as an “attorney-in-fact,” which is very different from an “attorney-at-law”).
Schening & Dopke Law, LLC is located in South Elgin, IL and serves clients throughout Kane, DuPage, DeKalb and Cook Counties and the surrounding areas.