How powerful is POA?

What is the name of your state? Florida.

My husband and I are hesitant to sign our durable-power-of-attorney documents for each other. How powerful is a POA? For example, would my husband be able to drain our bank accounts and skip town while I'm enjoying a pleasant afternoon on the river, or vice versa? Might we build a clause into the POA that would give it a start date, i.e., only when I'm diagnosed comatose by a doctor does the POA go into effect?

Jumaduke said:

What is the name of your state? Florida.

My husband and I are hesitant to sign our durable-power-of-attorney documents for each other. How powerful is a POA? For example, would my husband be able to drain our bank accounts and skip town while I'm enjoying a pleasant afternoon on the river, or vice versa? Might we build a clause into the POA that would give it a start date, i.e., only when I'm diagnosed comatose by a doctor does the POA go into effect?

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You can put such a clause (being incapacitated) in the POA. If your accounts are jointly held, what's to stop your husband from draining your accounts and skipping town while you're enjoying a pleasant afternoon on the river?

Read Chpt. 709 of FL Statutes.

Maybe the bank account drain wasn't a good example. With POA, couldn't my hubby buy a car in my absence, sign my name to the paperwork, and leave me stuck with the debt? Couldn't he sign away my guardianship rights to the kids? No, I don't expect him to turn on me and do these things. I'm just worrying about worst-case scenario. (Besides, isn't that what will-planning and trust-planning is for?) We're watching his brother go through a messy divorce right now (completely unexpected), and if either of them had POA over the other, I can imagine how one could completely scam the other.

That's why I like the idea of the incapacity clause.

Q: My husband and I are hesitant to sign our durable-power-of-attorney documents for each other. How powerful is a POA?

A: A financial POA is the most powerful document you can execute.



Q: For example, would my husband be able to drain our bank accounts and skip town while I'm enjoying a pleasant afternoon on the river, or vice versa?

A: Yes.



Q: Might we build a clause into the POA that would give it a start date, i.e., only when I'm diagnosed comatose by a doctor does the POA go into effect?

A: Yes.



You must remember that the more conditions you put on the POA, the less likely that a third party will want to rely on it.

Q: Maybe the bank account drain wasn't a good example. With POA, couldn't my hubby buy a car in my absence, sign my name to the paperwork, and leave me stuck with the debt?

A: Yes.


Q: Couldn't he sign away my guardianship rights to the kids?

A: Yes.


Q: No, I don't expect him to turn on me and do these things. I'm just worrying about worst-case scenario. (Besides, isn't that what will-planning and trust-planning is for?)

A: Yes.

Jumaduke said:

...Besides, isn't that what will-planning and trust-planning is for?.

That's why I like the idea of the incapacity clause.

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Yep, and totally agree.