The POA must then be accepted within five days after the party’ s receipt of the certification, translation, or opinion of counsel, in order to avoid the penalties described above.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the third party will not have to honor or accept a POA in certain additional circumstances. These circumstances include( a) actual knowledge by the third party that the agent’ s authority or the POA has been terminated,( b) the refusal of the request for certification, translation, or an opinion of counsel, or( c) the third party’ s good faith belief that the POA is not valid or that the agent does not have the authority to perform the act requested( even if the certification, translation, or an opinion of counsel has been provided), or( d) the third party’ s making of( or its actual knowledge that another person has made), a report to protective services, as such term is defined in O. C. G. A. Section 30-5-1, stating a good faith belief that the principal may be subject to physical or financial abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment by the agent or a person acting for or with the agent. Finally, it is possible that the third party may refuse to honor a POA validly executed in accordance with the Act if the principal had previously executed a separate contract with the third party under which the principal waived his or her right to force the use of a POA which did not conform to the third party’ s approved form.
Initial reviews and analyses of the new POA statute and the statutory POA form indicate that some legislative technical corrections will be needed. However, the new law does provide a good foundation to deal with both the abuses involving the exercise of powers under POAs and with the honoring of validly executed POAs by third parties. ▪
From the Board
We asked The Atlanta Lawyer Editorial Board " What is one of your favorite places to do community service?"
Trevor E. Brice, Gaslowitz Frankel LLC I enjoy volunteering at the Atlanta Community Food Bank because it has a variety of different programs and ways to get involved, from sorting canned food to planting community gardens.
Photography by Neal Patton
Megan T. Hodgkiss, Hodgkiss Consulting My community service work involves raising funds and awareness for women ' s health issues. I support the Atlanta Legal Aid Society ' s Breast Cancer Legal Project, the American Cancer Society, and Komen Atlanta. I also donate to Pantene ' s Beautiful Lengths.
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