If you are in a situation where need to give power to a trusted person to sign legal documents in your name, this article is for you. This article explains when to create a legally enforceable power of attorney (POA) document in the state of Oklahoma.
Use a Power of Attorney to delegate decisions on your behalf
If you need to delegate decision making authority, or even the “leg work” of managing your assets, you can do that with a Power of Attorney. By nominating your Agent, you can authorize that agent aka attorney-in-fact, to carry out duties, tasks, and jobs on your behalf. This can be very important benefit to a variety of people.
For example, the busy entrepreneur, or the ambitious real estate investor, may want to spend as much of their time as possible working on developing their businesses, finding deals, being their for the “building” process of entrepreneurship and investing. They may not want to attend closings or write checks. They can delegate these time consuming tasks to various agents with various limits to their authority.
At the same time, a retired person living out their golden years may be “done” with managing assets. They may be ready for a permanent vacation. Individuals in these circumstances may want to simply nominate an agent, say an attorney or CPA, to manage the day to day affairs of investment accounts or real estate.
What is a Durable Power of Attorney document in Oklahoma?
A competent adult may give power to another adult to act on his or her behalf. This is called assigning power of attorney. The word attorney in this instance means “attorney-in-fact,” not attorney-at-law. The person who signs the POA is the Principal, and the person who receives the power of attorney is the Agent.
A properly executed POA grants the Agent (i.e. the attorney-in-fact) power to act on behalf of the Principal. This could include signing checks, signing deeds or real estate contracts, running a company, or making medical decisions.
When the word durable is added to the POA, this is usually for the purpose of ensuring that the Agents power continues even after the Principal becomes incapacitated (but not deceased). A significant issue is do you want the power of attorney to still be active if you become incapacitated? If so, then you will need to make the POA durable in that event.
There are many different versions of POA documents, and they can be extremely broad or extremely limited. The good news is that you can take control of all of these scenarios if you start now and plan ahead.
How much power should you give away in your Power of Attorney document in Oklahoma
The best way to answer these questions is to imagine the various scenarios that could happen, and then work backwards. So first, imagine a situation where you may want to have another person making decision for you, signing documents, or acting on your behalf. Think about what type of scenario you would want that to happen. Then, imagine what you want your Agent to do for you in that scenario. Imagine how these scenarios could play out. How do you want each of those scenarios handled?
It is very likely that you may want different agents handling different jobs/tasks/duties for different scenarios. You may want one person to manage your business, another your real estate, another your medical decisions.
Create a Durable Power of Attorney to delegate decisions if you become incapacitated
If you become incapacitated, how will you manage your business and personal affairs? Who will write checks and pay your bills? Who will pay your taxes? Who will respond to a lawsuit filed against you for collections, foreclosure, or other matter if your obligations are not timely met?
By creating a durable power of attorney, you authorize a person to act on your behalf in the event that you are incapacitated or unable to handle your business and personal affairs. It could be a coma, heart attack, seizure, or other event that temporarily or permanently impacts your ability to manage your finances and assets.
Real Estate Investors may give Power of Attorney to property managers
A real estate investor may want to delegate the task of collecting rents, paying taxes, and filing evictions to a property manager. They may even want to avoid having to attend real estate closings, which typically require “wet signatures” as opposed to electronic signatures. With a valid Power of Attorney, a real estate investor can send an agent to handle the closing on their behalf.
The same goes for filing eviction lawsuits and attending forcible entry and detainer hearings. With a power of attorney, an agent can attend the court hearings on behalf of the real estate investor and file lawsuits, garnishments, writs of execution and all other matters involved in enforcing lease agreements.
Oklahoma City Attorney can create Power-of-Attorney documents for you
If you would like a consultation on how to draft the appropriate planning documents for your estate, we invite you to contact our office to schedule a consultation. You may call 405-607-7799 or send us an email.