Dallas County Living Well Magazine Summer 2014 | Page 13

What is a Durable
Power of Attorney
And Who
Needs One?
By Lori A. Leu & Erin W. Peirce

M

any people understand they need a Will
to control the distribution of their assets after they die. However, the most
important estate planning document is
actually a Durable Power of Attorney.
Imagine that your father is diagnosed with an aggressive
form of Alzheimer’s disease and suddenly needs to move to
a memory unit in an assisted living facility for his safety.
Previously, your father had been very independent and
never involved you in his finances. However, you recently
noticed overdue bill notices on his counter and stacks of unopened “home shopping” packages. Upon further investigation, you discover your father has a large amount of debt
and very little savings. His income is not sufficient to pay
the cost of assisted living, he has no long-term care insurance, he is not eligible for Veteran’s benefits, and the care
he needs is not covered by Medicaid. The only way to pay
for his care is to sell his only asset, his home. The market is
favorable, so you have few concerns, until you speak with a
title company and learn that your father must have named
you as his agent in a Durable Power of Attorney for you to
have authority to sell his home. Unfortunately, your father
never understood the need for a Durable Power of Attorney,
and now it is too late. Your father is legally incapacitated
and no longer able to sign legal documents. Without a Durable Power of Attorney, no one is legally authorized to act
on behalf of your father – not even his family. The only way
you will be able to sell your father’s home, pay his bills,
or otherwise manage his finances, is to be appointed the
legal guardian of his estate by a judge through a lengthy
and costly court process. If only your father had signed a
Durable Power of Attorney when he had the ability to do so,
he would have saved thousands of dollars in legal fees, and
months of heartache and stress.
A Durable or “Financial” Power of Attorney is a legal
document by which you designate someone to serve as
your agent with the legal authority to act on your behalf in
financial affairs, including managing accounts, paying bills,
and selling real property, among others things. A Durable
Power of Attorney can be effective immediately or it can

be “springing,” that is, effective only upon a physician’s
written confirmation of disability or incapacity. Alternate
agents should be named in case any agent is unable or unwilling to serve, so that you always