A Power of Attorney is an important legal document that you (the “principal”) can use to give someone else (the “attorney-in-fact”) the legal authority to sign documents and make important decisions about your interests and affairs.
There are a few things you should know about the Power of Attorney (POA) in Arizona. The first is that POAs are not always one-size-fits-all, as we’ll see below…
Different Types of Power of Attorney in Arizona
An experienced lawyer can work with you to make your Power of Attorney as narrow or as broad as you believe to be prudent or necessary. People often execute a POA to cover one or more of the following:
- Health care decisions
- Mental health decisions
- Legal decisions or agreements
- Financial transactions and other decisions related to your bank accounts or financial interests
Things to Keep in Mind About Arizona Law and the Power of Attorney
The following rules for Power of Attorney may help set your mind at ease about whether a POA is right for you:
- A Power of Attorney can generally be drafted narrowly to avoid giving someone too much authority.
- You can revoke your POA at any time and for any reason.
- In most cases, when you die, any of the authority granted in a POA will transfer to the Personal Representative you named in your will.
- Wrongfully abusing a Power of Attorney constitutes a civil and criminal offense under Arizona law.
A Phoenix estate planning lawyer can help you understand which kind(s) of Power of Attorney might work best for you.
