A power of attorney is used to appoint a representative to legally act on your behalf in some transaction. However, it is not uncommon for representative to abuse the power of attorney. So how can you protect yourself if you need to use a power of attorney?

Choosing your representative can be difficult and you should choose your representative with care. The person you give your power of attorney to must be someone you can trust. A trusted friend, family member, lawyer, or even an accountant can make the best representatives. You should choose someone that will make decisions as if you were there personally and will act in your best interest; therefore there should be conflict of interest.

People tend to go for a general power of attorney’s, which usually gives rise to fraudulent transactions. This document will allow your agent to act on your behalf in any matter he or she wishes. Unless there is a reason for giving a general power of attorney, specific or limited power of attorney. This will restrict your representative to only certain transactions or specific events when you say they can act on your behalf. For example if you wanted to your lawyer to sign real estate contract for you on your behalf then you could do that with a limited power of attorney form. You could also add other specific instruction in the power of attorney, such as not selling the house lower then a certain price.

By giving a specified period of how long a power of attorney is valid is an advisable. Most responsible professionals will not accept power of attorneys over the age of one year. Stating an expiry dated on the power of attorney will not require you to revoke it at a later date if you no longer require the representative to act on your behalf.

When revoking your power of attorney, you should also notify all parties that the power of attorney would have been presented to. This will ensure that any professional that your representative has interacted with to deal with your transactions will be aware of your revocation. Also, orally discussing the revocation is also a good idea.

You can choose to file your power of attorney, which is a simple process. It is possible to draft and file your own power of attorney. However, these can be very general but you get companies that will take your instructions and will draft your power of attorney and even file them for you, check out legalzoom.com. Get your Legal Documents Online for up to 85% less than Lawyer Fees

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