Walk It Through: The Papers Before Surgery
A power of attorney that survives incapacity, an advance directive before witnesses or a notary, and an accounting.
A parent facing surgery wants an adult child to handle the bills if the parent cannot.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One parent and one adult child. Revocation, a third party's reliance on the document, who decides when nothing was signed, and the forms the state publishes are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Attorney in factThe agent a principal authorizes by a written power of attorney, one or more individuals or a qualified bank. The power of attorney must be in writing, duly signed and acknowledged.
- Advance directiveA health care directive signed and dated by or at the direction of the declarant in the presence of two subscribing adult witnesses, or acknowledged before a notary public, an attorney at law or another person authorized to administer oaths.