Powers of Attorney in Ashland: What Is the Difference Between a General and a Limited Power of Attorney?

Powers of attorney are used in the legal field for a variety of different purposes. Broadly speaking, a power of attorney is utilized to appoint someone else to act on your behalf in a legally binding manner.

Types of Powers of Attorney in Ashland

There are different types of powers of attorney in Ashland. One of them is the general power of attorney.

General Power of Attorney

The anatomy of a power of attorney is comprised of the grantor or principal, and the agent or attorney-in-fact. The person who is granting the power of attorney is called the grantor or the principal. The individual who can act on behalf of the grantor is the agent or attorney-in-fact.

With a general power of attorney, the agent is granted broad powers. If you gave someone a general power of attorney, he or she could do anything that you could do for yourself.

This a lot of power to give to someone, so you should certainly be discerning when you are giving someone a general power of attorney.

Limited Power of Attorney

You may need someone to act on your behalf on a limited basis. This can be accomplished through the creation of a limited power of attorney.

For example, let’s say that you want to complete a real estate transaction in another state. You can’t be there in person. It would be possible to give someone that you know in that state the power to act on your behalf to consummate that single transaction.

Incapacity Planning

In the field of estate planning, powers of attorney are used for incapacity planning purposes. A standard power of attorney would not remain effective if the grantor was to become incapacitated. As a response, durable powers of attorney are utilized.

Durable powers of attorney do remain effective even if the grantor of the device becomes incapacitated.

It is possible to limit the scope of the powers of attorney that you grant for incapacity planning purposes. For example, you could execute one durable power of attorney for health care. The agent that you choose would be empowered to make medical decisions on your behalf.

You could also have a financial power of attorney. The agent that you name in this document would be empowered to handle your financial affairs in the event of your incapacitation.

If you do not execute durable powers of attorney, you have greatly increased the chances that the state could be petitioned to appoint a guardian to act on your behalf in the event of your incapacitation.

You would probably prefer to select your own hand-picked decision-maker or decision-makers when you are still of sound mind.  When you create an incapacity plan that includes durable powers of attorney, you can help prevent a guardianship and select a representative of your own choosing to act on your behalf if it becomes necessary.