POWER OF ATTORNEY - GENERAL

Do you need to be away when legal documents need to be signed?

If so, you can appoint a trusted representative to affix your signature to those documents. You’ll need a form known as a General Power of Attorney, which is available as a free download from this site.

This document gives your representative full legal authority to act in your place. This person, who becomes known as your Attorney in Fact, can do anything you could do if you were present. He or she legally becomes you.

Your Attorney in Fact may buy or sell real estate, obtain loans, grant loans, and institute foreclosure proceedings. He or she can enter into (or dissolve) legal contracts of any and all manner, sign your income tax return, hire or fire employees, sign new leases, or purchase business inventory and equipment. Obviously, you will grant General Power of Attorney only to someone you trust completely… because you will be bound by everything done in your name.

Your Attorney in Fact can even authorize medical procedures for you when you are unable to communicate.

The General Power of Attorney is often used between spouses or partners so that one may act for both as a matter of convenience. It is also used when an elderly or ill person wants a child, spouse, sibling, or perhaps an attorney to have full authority over bank accounts, real estate holdings, leases, tax forms, and contracts.

As a safeguard against fraud, this document must be signed in front of a notary in order to be valid. The Notary must believe that the person granting this power has full mental capacity at the time of signing, knows what they are signing, and is signing of complete free will.

Sometimes this power is granted because of a short-term absence or illness. If this is the case, a second form is recorded later, revoking or withdrawing the power of attorney.

POWER OF ATTORNEY GENERAL