Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney (or “POA”) is an important legal document which gives another person or persons the legal authority to handle your finances and make other business decisions on your behalf. New York State has legislatively created a form Power of Attorney, which contains many important powers. The current version of the Power of Attorney form contains many of the same basic powers as in previous versions of the Power of Attorney, but allows for substantial modification of the basic form so that it may be customized to suit your particular purposes. The current Power of Attorney form gives the POA principal, that is the person who granted the Power of Attorney to an agent, additional flexibility and protection with respect to the powers that are granted to the agent.

Appointing people you trust to serve as your Agent(s) pursuant to the authority granted in your Power of Attorney is an important component of planning for possible incapacity, or even for your convenience in the event you are not available to personally attend to your affairs. The POA is a very powerful legal document and should only be executed with the guidance of your attorney.

 

A Power of Attorney cannot be used to make health care decisions. A separate document called a Health Care Proxy is available for New York residents for this purpose.