How to Handle the Power of Attorney With Your Elderly Parents

Assuming power of attorney for elderly parents requires extra consideration.

In most states, power of attorney is a private agreement between responsible adults that does not need to be filed or registered with any court or any other official body to be valid. But there are a couple of extra considerations when an adult child assumes power of attorney for elderly parents. Elderly parents sometimes slip away by degrees, becoming increasingly incapacitated. And, when their memories fade and they can no longer speak, other people begin to make decisions for them. A wisely drafted power-of-attorney agreement will ensure that the person who makes those decisions for your parents will be you.

Instructions

1. Discuss the powers you and your parents think you should have. Common powers include real property, personal property and stock transactions; banking, business, retirement plan and insurance transactions; litigation; personal and family maintenance; and taxes.

2. Draft a power-of-attorney agreement that specifically gives the powers you all choose to you and specify a time when or conditions under which you will assume power of attorney.

3. Make the power of attorney "durable." Specific legal language may be necessary in your state. Durable power of attorney means that the powers delegated to you will not be voided by your parents' disability or incapacitation.

4. Incorporate "medical proxy" or "medical powers of attorney" into the agreement. These terms describe the authority you can have to make health care decisions for your parents according to their moral or religious beliefs when they are no longer able to make those decisions.

5. Make separate agreements for each parent. Sign the agreements in front of a notary public. In some states, medical powers of attorney must be signed in front of two additional witnesses.

6. Discuss your medical powers of attorney with your parents' physicians if they become unable to make medical decisions for themselves. Some states require you to provide the physician with a copy of the medical power-of-attorney agreement.

References

• "Questions and Answers about Medical Proxies"; OnlinemedicalRegistries.com
• "Filing a Health Care Proxy in the Medical Record"; New York Department of Health
• "Texas Statutory Durable Power Of Attorney"; Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
• "Texas Durable Power of Attorney Laws"; Findlaw
• "Medical Power Of Attorney"; Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services