More about Power of Attorney

"Power of Attorney" (POA) is when you assign a trusted person the authority to spend your money and sell or dispose of your property during your lifetime. If they have POA, they can do this without telling you.

Things to know:

• You can still make your own decisions even though you gave your agent similar authority.
• Your agent must follow your instructions. If there are no specific instructions, they must act in your best interest.  
• Your agent can act on your behalf after they sign the Power of Attorney with a notary public.
• You can request information from your agent at any time.
• Your agent cannot make health care decisions for you. You may execute a “Health Care Proxy” to do this.

Taking away Power of Attorney is a process called revoking POA or "a revocation." You will need to provide written notice of the revocation to the agent(s) and to others who relied on it (including the financial institutions that hold your accounts).

• You can revoke or terminate your Power of Attorney at any time for any reason as long as you are of "sound mind."
• If you are no longer of sound mind, a court can remove an agent for acting improperly.