Power Of Attorney And Its Validity

Power of attorney can be a tricky thing to do because you are basically giving another person full right to act in your stead in personal and legal matters. This means that the person who you have given the power of attorney to, which is called the “agent” or the “attorney in fact,” will have the right to sign legal documents in your name and even have access to your bank accounts, among other things. Thus, it is important to look into the validity of these powers of attorney and the circumstances when they can become invalid. So if you are thinking of giving a power of attorney, read on.

Because of the sensitive nature of this, power of attorneys are often only given to people that the “principal” ( the person giving the power of attorney to the agent) absolutely trusts. This can be a son or daughter, a parent or other close relations.

Do not be fooled with the name. Anybody can be given the power of attorney, even people who are not lawyers, although most of those who are given such responsibilities are family lawyers of rich people or corporate lawyers of big corporations, whose job entails them to represent the CEOs or the big bosses, which are often required to be in three places at the same time, which is of course, not humanly possible.

Power of attorney often has a scope, depending on the agreement or the dictates of the principal. In most cases, the power of attorney will only have an effect on specific cases or issues. Some will be stating a specific period of time while others will be point to more specific business dealings. For instance, a power of attorney may be granted to sign a business deal with Conglomerate X but will not be effective when signing deals with Conglomerate Y even if they are signed on the same day.

It all depends on the legal papers that accompany the power of attorney. And these papers stating the contract for the power of attorney is required to be shown before an agent can act. Some countries accept oral agreement but others like the United States rely on written documents to deem it legal. Because of the birth of the internet and the computers, powers of attorney sent over the internet or those that are electronically given are accepted in some states and also in some countries.

Remember though that regardless of the period stated on the contract, the power of attorney will be void once the principal dies. When they fall ill, become physically or mentally incapacitated, some power of attorney agreements are honored provided that they have the provision that the contract will still be valid when these things happen. Otherwise, they will also become void.

It is also assumed that the agent will be completely honest and truthful with his business dealings in representing the principal. When he is proven to be dishonest and fraudulent, all the things that he has signed when the power of attorney is still in effect will be deemed invalid.