Estate Planning Q & A with Jack Dooley:

QUESTION:

What does “Durable” mean in “Durable Power of Attorney”?

Answer:

A Power of Attorney is a document which enables you ("Principal") to appoint another individual ("Agent") to act on your behalf and in your interests in financial and health care matters. Powers of Attorney have been around as long as there have been lawyers, but the original concept sounds odd to us today. The initial idea was that you signed a Power of Attorney and that every moment of every day until the power was revoked, the Principal has the continuous and knowing intention to keep that power in place. The problem with this concept was that should the Principal become incapacitated; the law indicated that the Power of Attorney was no longer effective – because the Principal no longer had the capacity to have the intention to keep the power in place. Many people are absolutely stunned when they hear this and regard it as counterintuitive because "isn't that exactly why I want the Power of Attorney? — When I am unable to do things for myself." Due to this very reasonable thought, state governments responded by adopting statutes that recognized the legality of a durable Power of Attorney, meaning that the power would survive the Principal's incapacity. Durable does not mean irrevocable, as any Power of Attorney can be revoked by the Principal. A Power of Attorney is durable if it simply contains the words that indicate that the power is to survive the incapacity.

Do you need help establishing a power of attorney or advance health care directive? Contact us online or call 215-362-2474 to make an appointment with one of our estate planning attorneys.