Summer Vacation Plans Should Include Powers of Attorney

If you are planning on a summer vacation, you might want to incorporate creating powers of attorney as an important step. When you go on vacation you want to be sure that the affairs you leave behind will not cause you any problems. You don’t want to have to worry, for example, that your house is not being looked after, that your mail is going unattended, and that your bills are going unpaid.

So, for people who are planning on going on summer vacation, creating powers of attorney can give you much needed peace of mind. By creating these legal documents you allow yourself the reassurance of knowing that someone will have the authority to look after your important affairs. Here’s what you should know about powers of attorney and summer vacation.

Decision-Making

When you make choices in your day-to-day life you probably don’t give a lot of thought to the legal process involved. After all, you are capable adult, and you don’t need anyone’s permission to make most of the decisions you make.

So, if you want to allow others to make decisions for you, you can do so fairly easily. Just as you can make decisions for yourself, you can also decide to delegate that decision-making authority to another. The way you do this is by creating one or more powers of attorney. Through a power of attorney you name a legal representative, called an attorney-in-fact or agent, who will have the legal authority to make decisions for you. The power of attorney document will state the kinds of decisions your agent can make, and you, as an adult, can modify or revoke the powers whenever you wish.

Powers of Attorney and Summer Vacation

Most people who go on summer vacation and who create powers of attorney do so for one of two reasons. First, there are people who want to protect their financial and property interests by having an agent look after those interests while they are away. For example, if you have a home and are planning on being on summer vacation for a long time, you’ll want to make sure that someone will remain at home to take care of things. You might want that person to pay your bills, take care of any required maintenance, or even deal with problems that might arise that might require your agent to make certain important decisions.

Beyond taking care of property and finances, powers of attorney can also be useful if you are planning on leaving young children behind while you go on vacation without them. When you leave your children under the care of someone else, you can use a power of attorney to grant that person the ability to make parenting responsibilities in your absence. For example, the caregiver can, if granted power of attorney, make medical decisions on the child’s behalf without requiring your consent.

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Timothy P. Murphy

Timothy P. Murphy is an estate planning and elder law attorney whose practice emphasizes helping people to build, preserve and pass on their wealth. He works with his clients to accomplish their goals while avoiding unnecessary court proceedings and minimizing or eliminating exposure to death taxes.

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