{"id":1814,"date":"2014-08-26T11:52:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T15:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2021-12-07T06:18:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T10:18:52","slug":"its-late-sign-power-attorney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/its-late-sign-power-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Too Late to Sign a Power of Attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"elder<\/a>The Scenario<\/h3>\n

Often, I receive telephone calls from a family member asking me to prepare a Power of Attorney for a parent.\u00a0 It is needed fast, I am told, because the parent needs nursing home care.\u00a0 My conversation quickly reveals that the parent is suffering from dementia. Legally, this calls into question whether the parent has the capacity to sign such a document.\u00a0 If not, then it is too late to create a Power of Attorney, and a guardianship action must be brought before the Court.<\/p>\n

What’s Needed to Sign a Power of Attorney?<\/h3>\n

To sign a Power of Attorney, Last Will and Testament, and other legal documents, a person must have the mental capacity to do so.\u00a0 They must understand the implications of their act, among other things.\u00a0 If such a person has dementia, it calls into question whether he or she understood what they were doing, and it opens the situation to legal attack should a third party object.\u00a0 Often, I ask for a writing from a physician stating that the person has capacity before I proceed.\u00a0\u00a0 This, of course, takes time, and may interfere with the family\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

If the physician states that the patient does not have the capacity to understand the implications of signing a Power of Attorney, I cannot, ethically, prepare one and have it signed.\u00a0 A guardianship proceeding will be necessary.\u00a0 This will take two to three months.<\/p>\n

Avoid the Headache, Plan Ahead<\/h3>\n

All of this can be avoided if you plan ahead. Be responsible and care about your family.\u00a0\u00a0 I often hear, \u201cI don\u2019t need a Power of Attorney yet.\u201d\u00a0 If you wait until you need one, it will be too late.<\/p>\n

For more information about Trusts, Estates, and Guardianship click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MERELY AN EDUCATIONAL SERVICE TO PROVIDE BASIC, GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE OF ANY SORT. FURTHER, BY EXPLORING THIS INFORMATION, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT NO ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP IS BEING FORMED. \u00a0IF YOU NEED LEGAL COUNSEL, PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE OR AN ATTORNEY OF YOUR CHOOSING, OR CALL YOUR LOCAL\u00a0COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION FOR A REFERRAL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Scenario Often, I receive telephone calls from a family member asking me to prepare a Power of Attorney for a parent.\u00a0 It is needed fast, I am told, because the parent needs nursing home care.\u00a0 My conversation quickly reveals that the parent is suffering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,228,15,3007],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15416,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions\/15416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}