Powers of Attorney: What are they? And when do you need one?

In this episode, Alison discusses everything you need to know about powers of attorney, particularly useful for military families. She covers why you need one, the different types available, and shares personal experiences to highlight the importance of these legal documents.

Important Links:

Armed Forces Legal Services Locator

Military One Source Free Legal Help

Legal Assistance for Service Members and Families

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63e17c34781752946ff2b424

Transcript

[00:00:00] Alison: Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the show today. We are going to take on a topic that I have seen asked a lot of times, and that is powers of attorney. When do you need it? Why do you need it? What are the different types of powers of attorney, all of the different things and then where to get it.

[00:00:20] Alison: Okay. So diving in, let's from the top. What is a power? What is a power of attorney? It's basically a legal document that gives someone else the authority to act on your behalf. That means that if you can't handle certain tasks yourself, like signing a document, managing money, making decisions, someone you trust can do it for you.

[00:00:45] Alison: So in simple terms, It's like giving someone permission to quote unquote be you for certain things, especially when you're not around to do them, which in the military lifestyle is pretty much deployments and PCSs, right? Those are going to be the main times when you're going to need a power of attorney when your significant other is not available.

[00:01:10] Alison: But with powers of attorney, you can choose. Specific tasks that they can cover, like paying bills, selling a car, medical decisions, whatever, and also how long they have have the authority for. So again, for military families, p powers of attorney are especially useful during deployments training just allowing the spouse.

[00:01:36] Alison: to manage, you know, important responsibilities without waiting for the service member to be physically present. Okay. So there's, there's quite a few different types of situations that you may need a power of attorney in. So we're going to cover a few of those. But it's, you know, it's essentially your, you are representing your spouse in In legal, financial, personal matters are just basically acting on behalf of them.

[00:02:07] Alison: So circumstances, right? We already talked about deployments especially if they're going overseas or to remote areas, you're not going to be able to get in touch with them. Something comes up, you might need to be able to, just to be able to manage finances sign documents and make decision, things like that.

[00:02:26] Alison: So something to think about, and this is one of those, you don't realize it or think about it until you're in a situation that you're like, Oh my gosh, I remember when I was a brand new baby spouse and Michael was underway, And I don't think he was deployed. I think he was just underway and something happened with like the cable or something like that.

[00:02:47] Alison: And it was in his name. And so I'm trying to get it taken care of and they won't talk to me because the account was in his name. So moving forward, we have all of the utilities are in both of our names or my name, because I'm the one that's usually here to handle if anything goes wrong, but those are, that's just a.

[00:03:07] Alison: a small example of something that you might have to access. And then during, so another situation would be during a PCS, right? So you, there's so many things that your spouse, the service member specifically has to sign for securing housing signing, leases, signing for movers. If you've got to change the registration of your vehicles or selling a vehicle during that PCS process, if your service member can't be there, , the power of attorney will let you still handle that move, even if the military member's not present.

[00:03:46] Alison: Financial management, right? So that kind of goes along with the deployment part, right? Being able to pay bills, accessing accounts if you need to refinance a mortgage, if you're going to buy or sell a property. I've done that before. It's a total pain in the neck. It's a total pain in the neck.

[00:04:07] Alison: Michael's and vice versa. Michael's had to do it too. Had to sign for actually when we closed on our Denver house, both times when we closed on it, when we were purchasing it and we closed on it, when we were selling it, Michael was the only one that was there and he had a power of attorney for me because I could not be there.

[00:04:26] Alison: So Take care of those things while, while they're not there. Health and medical issues. If the military member is injured or incapacitated or can't make medical decisions, a medical power of attorney will allow the spouse to make healthcare choices on their behalf. This is especially important in situations where The service member is stationed far from home or maybe has ongoing health concerns.

[00:04:56] Alison: And then in some cases the spouse might need a power of attorney to access medical records or to authorize treatments , for the service member, child care and schooling that one. I've never needed a power of attorney for that, but I don't know if, if there are certain situations, if you're registering your kids for school or things like that.

[00:05:19] Alison: are making medical and education decisions. You might need a power of attorney to speak for your spouse on that. I never encountered that myself, but just throwing it out there for you. And then just, you know, legal matters, is there property transfers, divorce or custody paperwork, any other type of binding agreements that you might be in as a couple or just the service member, you know, again, with the, with the power of attorney or POA, The spouse can act on that military member's behalf buying, selling, or registering a vehicle.

[00:05:54] Alison: Again, you might need to do that during a deployment or a PCS or when they're not around. And then if you need to update anything in DEARS or with the Department of Defense. If you need to get a new I. D. You can use a power of attorney for that. Again, real estate transactions we already talked about.

[00:06:13] Alison: And then, you know, you never know. There's emergency situations, unexpected situations that come up natural disasters, right? There's all the hurricanes and things that are happening. You never know what you might need. legal authority to, to handle. And, you know, you might be put in a situation where you've really got to make quick decisions.

[00:06:32] Alison: And if you don't have a power of attorney, that's really going to kind of tie your hands in, in different ways. There are a couple of different types of powers of attorney So choosing the right one as a military spouse really depends on your specific needs your spouses Military obligations and then the kinds of responsibilities that you might need to manage while they're away So here are just a couple of you know overarching.

[00:07:00] Alison: This is kind of what you're looking for So there's a general power of attorney. That one is if you're going to need broad authority to handle most of your spouse's legal and financial matters, right? Bank accounts, filing taxes, buying and selling property, blah, blah, blah. A general power of attorney might be appropriate.

[00:07:19] Alison: However, A general power of attorney grants significant power. So it's really important to discuss and carefully consider the level of trust and necessity for that broad of a document. Okay. The second one is a special or limited power of attorney. So this one is if you only need authority for specific tasks like signing a lease, selling a vehicle, completing PCS paperwork, a special power of attorney might be the best choice.

[00:07:52] Alison: This is limited to specific actions or a specific time period. And that makes it, you know, more tailored to your immediate needs without granting unnecessary authority. You know, the, the bottom line here is that obviously if you're married to someone, hopefully you're in a, in a healthy relationship and you trust each other, but we've all heard the horror stories of, you know, a sailor goes out to sea and their significant other doesn't pay the, the bills, doesn't, or takes out excessive loans and then the service member comes home to just a pile of poo.

[00:08:31] Alison: There's, there's just, there's a lot of situations. So you, you just need to be very, very, very mindful of the authority that these types of documents grant to the other person. Okay. So considering long term versus short term needs. So a durable power of attorney, okay. is if your spouse wants you to retain decision making power, even if they become incapacitated, then you're going to use a durable power of attorney.

[00:09:08] Alison: So this type of power of attorney remains in effect, even if they're unable to make decisions due to injury or illness. It's a good option for long term needs, but You need to be very careful when considering it, because of the authority that it grants. It is in effect permanently until revoked. Okay, then there's the non durable power of attorney for temporary situations where you need authority for a limited period of time, like during a training period or deployment.

[00:09:41] Alison: A non durable POA might be the better choice. This type only lasts as long as your spouse is capable of making decisions, so it's typically used for short term matters. And then the third type is a medical power of attorney. You may need to make health care decisions on behalf of your spouse. Then the medical power of attorney is, that's the document that you need.

[00:10:06] Alison: It allows you to make decisions regarding their medical treatment if they are unable to do so themselves. So this is particularly useful for deployments in dangerous areas, or again, if your spouse has any health conditions. that may require immediate and trusted decision making. Okay. So then what is the difference between a general power of attorney, right?

[00:10:31] Alison: That was the first one that we talked about and a durable power of attorney. The main difference between those two is what happens if the person who created it becomes mentally or physically incapacitated. Okay. So the general power of attorney, is that give someone broad authority to make, you know, handle various tasks, right?

[00:10:53] Alison: Managing finances, paying bills, signing documents on your behalf, but it only lasts as long as you're mentally and physically able to make decisions. If you become incapacitated, for example, due to an accident or illness, a general power of attorney automatically ends. And the person that you choose can no longer act for you.

[00:11:13] Alison: The durable power of attorney is similar to the general, but it can give someone. the main difference is that it stays in effect if you become incapacitated or unable to make decisions for yourself. So the durable power of attorney remains active until you either pass away or formally revoke it. So it's often it's so it's, it's really chosen if you want someone to continue handling your affairs if you're no longer able to do so.

[00:11:42] Alison: Okay. So In summary, a general power of attorney ends if you're incapacitated while a durable power of attorney continues to be valid in that situation, which can provide, you know, extra security if you have long term needs. But It's, it's, it's a lot. Okay. So bottom line, if you're like, Oh my God, I don't even know what am I supposed to do?

[00:12:05] Alison: Personally speaking, we have always done the limited powers of attorney. So he's going to go on deployment. I need to be able to access all of our financial. You know, accounts and things like that if we know that we're going to be moving or something like that, or I, we have sold a property while he was deployed.

[00:12:28] Alison: So we had very specific circumstances that we needed coverage for and same with You know, vice versa. So we had a limited, a very specific power of attorney for Michael to sign the paperwork to sell our to buy our home in Colorado and then to sell our home in Colorado. It was for that thing.

[00:12:46] Alison: Specifically, if you know that you're going to be buying or selling a car while your service member is gone, that you can have a power of attorney specifically for that task. So it's basically what you're going to want to do is you're going to want to schedule a visit with base legal. Most bases offer free legal assistant assistance, right?

[00:13:10] Alison: You can sit down with an attorney and then you can talk to them about which power of attorney is going to suit your needs. And then they can provide, , really tailored advice based on your specific circumstances. , whether it's deployment or PCS or family matters, whatever, they can help you customize the document.

[00:13:29] Alison: , to include specific language or again, for specific tasks with, with expiration dates. And so then you can have a power of attorney that, precisely fits your needs without overextending authority unnecessarily. Because again, you know, you need to be very, very, very careful when you are executing documents like this, because if you, you just need to make sure that you're entrusting Someone that you have full faith and confidence in to handle whatever tasks you are granting them permission to do on your behalf. 

[00:14:07] Alison: And then, , do's and don'ts is you make sure that you are very careful with your power of attorney that you keep it. If you've got a place for important documents, if you haven't yet, You need to get your listing file and make your special binder. We have a medical one. We have an important documents one.

[00:14:27] Alison: All of the things go in there. And so I know where all of our important paperwork is. If something happens, those are the two binders that get grabbed. And you know, keep it in a really good place. And then again, make sure that you have a good conversation with Navy legal or sorry, whoever were Navy.

[00:14:46] Alison: I'm not just automatically comes to mind, but wherever your base legal is. And you know, I feel like if you are going to, if you're a significant others going on a deployment, almost definitely you're going to want to have a power of attorney. It's just what type is going to be best for you. And again, your specific needs is going to be a sit down with base legal and that you can say, Hey, this is what we're going to have to do.

[00:15:09] Alison: What do we need? And then they can advise you as to which type is best for you. But now you know, right now, you know, the different types that you have. And then , the longterm versus the short term needs of those. But again, basically goal it's free and they can walk you through specifically what you need.

[00:15:27] Alison: So I will make sure that I. leave you some links in the show notes to other resources and including military one source. So that's another really good place to look if you have any legal questions that you need answered. Okay. That was it for today. Hopefully coming up here in the next few weeks, we're going to have some spouse businesses.

[00:15:54] Alison: We're going to, I like to, I've done it the last few years over the holidays. I like to highlight military spouses that have businesses that sell products. And so we can shop our community and help support other military spouses while doing your holiday shopping. So stay tuned for that. Okay. Until next time.