Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog
In Florida, a Durable Power of Attorney (DPA) is a document that allows you to designate someone to act on your behalf if you ever become incapacitated. The person creating the DPA is known as the “principal” and the person receiving authority to act on your behalf is known as the “agent” or “attorney-in-fact.” Depending on the DPA, your agent will have authority to handle your financial transactions or to oversee your medical care.
Steps to Create a DPA
DPA for your finances: With this type of durable power of attorney, you can give a trusted person as much authority over your finances as you like. Your agent can handle simple tasks like sorting through your mail, or more complicated ones like watching over your investments. To create a Financial DPA follow the following steps:
- Choose your agent: Your agent must be a natural person who is 18 years of age or older. Your agent can also be a financial institution that has trust powers, has a place of business in the state of Florida, and is authorized to conduct trust business in Florida. Although your agent does not have to be a financial expert, you should trust that he or she has and will use common sense in making decisions that are in your best interest.
- Draft the DPA: A DPA must contain the phrase “this durable power of attorney is not terminated by subsequent incapacity of the principal except as provided in chapter 709, Florida Statutes.” Otherwise, the document is a power of attorney and the authority granted to your agent to act on your behalf will terminate if you ever become incapacitated. Your DPA must also state how much authority do you grant to your agent to handle your finances, be signed by you and by two subscribing witnesses, and acknowledged by you before a notary public. Lastly, the document must state that your agent can exercise his or her power under the DPA only in the event that you become incapacitated.
DPA for your health: The name of this type of DPA is Designation of Health Care Surrogate (DHCS). To create a DHCS, follow the same steps to create a financial DPA but mention in the document that you grant the authority to your agent to oversee your medical health care in case you ever become incapacitated. Also, you must attach the following documents to your DHCS:
- HIPAA release form: This form authorizes your health care providers to release your medical information to your agent.
- Living will: This document allows you to draft instructions to your agent as to how to decide whether or not you will receive life support.
Why Do You Need a DPA Life is unpredictable. A sudden accident or illness can prevent you from being able to manage your financial affairs. Or even worse, it can leave you unable to tell the doctors what kind of medical treatment you desire. If this happens to you and you do not have a DPA, your relatives or loved ones will have to go to court to request a judge to name someone to manage your affairs. This proceeding can be expensive and will create a record available to the public. Moreover, the person selected by the judge might not know your desires and might even act contrary to them.
A DPA prevents this daunting scenario by allowing you to name someone you trust to handle your affairs if you are unable to do so, and allows you to draft instructions to that someone so that he or she can act according to your desires. Your instructions must be clear; therefore, it is wise to call an estate attorney for assistance with this matter. For an estate attorney in Florida, call the Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC at (904) 685 – 1200.