a power of attorney document

needs to be read to understand

what kind of power of attorney Authority

it provides

and also whether there are any

limitations so when someone says power

of attorney it can be referring to a

financial or property power of attorney

or it can be related to health care

decisions or it can be something more

specific than that

the agent sometimes called an attorney

in fact under a power of attorney

is someone that has the legal

responsibility and obligation to the

principal the principal is the person

who wrote the power of attorney

now an agent

needs to act in the best interest of the

principal this is a fiduciary

responsibility so the acts that the

agent takes

needs to be

always in the best interest of the

principal and this is where

there could be a lot of risk because

your agent has a lot of power

and elderly people are typically not

able to pay attention

to their finances or their property as

well as they used to and that gives the

agent a lot of leeway having an agent

that you trust implicitly is a good

start but you also have to understand

that circumstances can arise putting

pressure on the agent to act in ways

that are not proper

so it’s important to set up a plan where

there are checks and balances in place

to protect the elderly person every time

a power of attorney is in play