Why Would I Need a Power of Attorney?
There are different types of powers of attorney and anyone over the age of 18 needs a power of attorney.
These are documents that allow you to name an agent, a trusted family member or a friend, to make financial decisions or medical decisions in the event you ever become incapacitated. If you don’t sign a document like this when you have the capacity, if you don’t give advanced directives to people about how to handle your finances and about what your medical wishes are, family members would have to go to court and get a guardianship over you.
Your family members would then be involved in a court process for the rest of your life, making decisions for you. These are private documents you can execute in advance and give your directives to family members about how to handle things for you when you’re not able to do so.