Can I Revoke a Power of Attorney?

I wanted to cover something of a follow-up to last week’s blog entry entitled Why Won’t My Power of Attorney Work which you can find here: https://galligan-law.com/why-wont-my-power-of-attorney-work/.  In that article I talked about limitations to powers of attorney and scenarios when they won’t work or at least not well.  In this article, I want to briefly address how to revoke a power of attorney.  The recent article from nwi.com entitled  “Estate Planning: Revoking a power of attorney” also addresses this topic.

A Power of Attorney (POA) is a document that allows another person to act on your behalf. The person designated is referred to as the “Attorney in Fact” or the “Agent.”  However, sometimes a family faces difficulty because the choice of agent no longer makes sense, or perhaps was only needed for a brief time.  Even worse, the family may determine the agent is a bad actor whose authority needs to end.

If the creator of the POA wants to revoke it, they have to do so in writing.  They should also identify the person who is to be revoked as the POA and must be signed by the person who is revoking the POA.

Here’s the tricky part: the agent has to know it’s been revoked.  Unless the agent has actual knowledge of the revocation, they may continue to use the POA and financial institutions may continue to accept it.  If you are revoking a power of attorney because the agent isn’t suitable or a bad actor, you have a problem.  You can’t slip off to your estate planning lawyer’s office, revoke the POA and hope the person will never know.

Another way to revoke a POA, and this is the preferred method, is to execute a new one. In most states, most durable POAs include a provision that the new POA revokes any prior POAs. By executing a new POA that revokes the prior ones, you have a valid revocation that is in writing and signed by the principal.

If you already had an acting agent and you created the new POA, send them a copy and retain proof that you did so to demonstrate they were aware of the new POA and new appointment.

If the POA has been recorded for any reason such as use in a real estate transaction, the revocation should reference that fact and should be recorded just as a new POA would be filed to replace the old one. If the POA has been provided to any individuals or financial institutions, such as banks, life insurance companies, financial advisors, etc., they will need to be properly notified that it has been revoked or replaced.

Two cautions: not telling the bad and having her find out after the principal has passed or is incapacitated might be a painful blow, with no resolution. Telling the person during lifetime and before there are issues is a good idea. A diplomatic approach is best: the principal wishes to adjust her estate plan and the attorney made some recommendations, this revocation among them, should suffice.

Talk with your estate planning lawyer to ensure that the POA is changed properly, and that all POAs have been updated.

Reference: nwi.com (March 7, 2021) “Estate Planning: Revoking a power of attorney”

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Why Won’t My Power of Attorney Work?

Powers of attorney are critical estate planning tools, but there are some instances they don’t work, such as with SSA and the IRS.

Powers of Attorney (POAs) are excellent and often overlooked estate planning documents.  They name an agent to act on your behalf if you cannot do so yourself, such as due to incapacity.  However, there are some instances where traditional POAs won’t work.  The IRS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are two examples of entities that don’t recognize traditional POAs. Forbes’s recent article entitled “Two Times When Your Power of Attorney Isn’t Going to Work” explains why.

The IRS says that you must use Form 2848, “Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative” to allow anyone to act on your behalf. This form requires you to state the tax matters and years for which the agent is authorized to act. That’s different from a traditional POA for financial matters, which usually has blanket statements allowing the agent to take any or a broad range of actions on your behalf in certain matters.  For this reason, we often include language in our POAs to create a Form 2848 specifically to deal with the IRS.

A married couple that files joint tax returns must also have each spouse separately complete and sign a form. There is no joint form.

Technically, the IRS might accept other POAs as the instructions to Form 2848 indicate this. However, the POA must meet the requirements of Form 2848 to be accepted as a substitute. That can be a tall order.

The Social Security Administration is similar. It says on its web site that it doesn’t recognize POAs. When you need someone to manage your Social Security benefits, you contact the SSA and make an advance designation of a representative payee.

A 2018 law created this feature that lets you name one or more individuals to manage your Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration must usually work with the named individual or individuals. You can rank up to three people as advance designees. Therefore, if the first one isn’t available or is unable to perform the role, the SSA will move to the next person on your list.

Someone who already is receiving Social Security benefits can designate an advance designee at any point, and a person claiming benefits for the first time can name the designee during the claiming process. The designation can be made using your “my Social Security” account on the Social Security web site or by contacting the Social Security Administration by phone (800-772-1213) or at the local field office. A designee can also be named through the mail by using Form SSA-4547 – Advance Designation of Representative Payee.

Representative payees generally must be individuals, but it also can be a social service agency, nursing home, or one of a number of other organizations recognized by the SSA to serve as payees. If you don’t name any representatives, the SSA will name a representative payee for you, if it decides you need help managing your money. A relative or friend can apply to be representative payees, or the SSA can make the selection.

These are two very common scenarios where a POA may not work, though there are others.  Aside from the obvious cases of badly prepared or defective POAs, the Veterans Administration has their own representative system as well. But, careful planning and the advice of competent counsel can help tremendously by preparing a POA that can address as many scenarios and contingencies as possible.  Counsel can also help you identify tools outside of the POA that can assist with financial management such as trusts.  Also, before addressing your POA it might be helpful to get an idea as to the types of POAs and issues to consider with them, which you can find here.  https://galligan-law.com/what-is-the-right-kind-of-financial-power-of-attorney-for-you/

If you encounter problems using your power of attorney, consult with a lawyer who can help you navigate the system you are coping with and can advise you on how to take action for your loved one.

Reference: Forbes (Jan. 28, 2021) “Two Times When Your Power Of Attorney Isn’t Going To Work”

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Should you Update your Estate Plan if you Move to a New State?

Moving to a new state might mean estate plan changes for legal reasons, but more likely because of your change in circumstances.

I recently had a discussion with a client regarding whether and how they should update their estate plan if they move to a new state.  That conversation comes up frequently, so I thought it would be a great topic for a blog article.

The U.S. Constitution requires states to give “full faith and credit” to the laws of other states. As a result, your will, trust, power of attorney, and health care proxy executed in one state should be honored in every other state.  However, even if they are “valid” in another state doesn’t mean they will work well under that state’s laws or that they will work as well in practice, as described in Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “Moving to a New State? Be Sure to Update Your Estate Plan.”

Your last will should still be legally valid in the new state. However, the new state may have different probate laws that make certain provisions of the will invalid or no longer ideal.  By way of example, Texas has a unique form of probate in which there is an independent executor.  This minimizes court involvement in the probate which is what most clients prefer.  We often revise wills of clients moving to Texas to authorize independent executors.  Similarly, other states might have other unique provisions that you would want to utilize in that state.

This can also happen with revocable trusts, however trusts tend to be more portable.  Once a trust is funded, you can change any provisions you need to ensure it works in that state and you can elect that state’s laws.  So, it might need to be updated, but often is more portability.

You may also want to update your estate plan if you move to a new state to change your powers of attorney and health care directives. These estate planning documents should be honored from state to state, but sometimes banks, medical professionals, and financial and health care institutions will refuse to accept the documents and forms.  Each state has very specific roles on how these are created and what they can accomplish, so it is typically advisable to create new ancillary documents based upon the law of the new state.

It is also helpful to keep in mind that it is practically important to redo ancillaries documents because lawyers and judges aren’t the ones reviewing them.  Court systems will know how a will or trust applies under that state’s law because lawyers are involved in the process.  Incapacity documents such as the power of attorney and health care directives are reviewed by non-legal professionals such as title companies, doctors, bankers or their support staffs.  So practically speaking, it is easier to give them what they expect to see as they won’t have the expertise to recognize whether an out of state document is valid.

You should also know that the execution requirements of your estate planning documents may be different, depending on the state.

For example, there are some states that require witnesses on durable powers of attorney, and others that do not. A state that requires witnesses may not allow a power of attorney without witnesses to be used to convey real estate, even though the document is perfectly valid in the state where it was drafted and signed.

When you move to a different state, it’s also a smart move to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney because interstate moves often mean another change in circumstances that would necessitate a change to the estate plan.  For example, the move might have been because of a change in income, marital state or to support a family member in ill health.  You can see here for other reasons to consider updating your estate plan at that point.  https://galligan-law.com/when-to-update-your-estate-plan/

Moreover, there may be practical changes you want to make. For example, you may want to change your trustee or agent under a power of attorney based on which family members will be closer in proximity or to someone familiar with the new property.  This is also a good time to review trust funding as you will have new assets.

For all these reasons, when you move out of state it’s wise to have an experienced estate planning attorney in your new home state review your estate planning documents.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (Jan. 26, 2021) “Moving to a New State? Be Sure to Update Your Estate Plan”

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