Which Brings Us To- Wait, What's a POA?

All of this discussion about a document called a POA, and I suppose I should define it quickly for you.

A power of attorney is a document in which you give legal authority to somebody else to do certain things on your behalf. The substance of the POA, basically, is just identifying the "somebody else," the "certain things," and when the POA goes into and stays in effect. I'll get into that last bit during the next post.

You need one so that you can make sure that if you are unable to handle your affairs, someone else can do it for you and the authorities (banks, mostly) won't give you a hard time about it.

I said it a couple days ago, but it bears repeating: you don't want to be caught without one.

You don't want to be caught without one.

It is difficult and expensive to get the legal equivalent of a POA after the fact. The laws are a pain in the neck precisely to stop people from usurping the resources of some incapacitated person late in the game. This is why you must take care of this before you need it. If you need one, it's too late.