Hi I am Elizabeth Talbot and I am the Estate Plan Coordinator and Paralegal with the Talbot Law Group Trust and Estate Law Firm in Walnut Creek, California and today I am going to talk about the Durable Power of Attorney. So what is a Durable Power of Attorney? In general a durable power of attorney is where you appoint an agent to act on your behalf to handle all your financial matters in the case you are not able to. There are a few different instances where you might need a durable power of attorney. One is if you are doing a limited power of attorney and you are appointing someone to act on your behalf in regard to a specific situation, such as a specific piece of property like a real property transaction, or it could be in regards to a lawsuit, or administering a probate which is someone we have done on a regular basis. So, the main type of durable power of attorney that one uses is a general power of attorney that appoints an agent to act in regards to all financial transactions that one could possibly make. That includes many many different types of things because if you think of all the different things that you're capable of doing in regards to your finances, it's actually quite a lot. It has to do with your business, running of your household, your bank accounts, selling of real property, taking out life insurance policies, retirement plans, government benefits, and a whole list of other things that you could also do that your agent can do on your behalf should something happen to you. Now when is it that you would expect this agent to act? That would be when you were incapacitated. Now what is incapacitation? For someone younger that might be a stroke or serious injury or an unexpected fall where they are in the hospital for a longer period of time and someone needs to handle financial affairs on their behalf. If you have a power of attorney, someone will be able to do that for you. If you don't you may have to get a conservatorship. One common misunderstanding is that your spouse can handle your bank accounts and other financial affairs and even your medical affairs if something has happened to you. That is actually not true. If their name is not on your bank account or the other relevant accounts or transactions you're talking about then they will not be able to handle those accounts for you. So appointing an agent is really important and you want to do it when you're young and when you're healthy because you never know what may happen in the future. The other main thing that people end up using th edurable power of attorney for is when they are much older and they develop some kind of dementia. That would be another time it comes in handy because once someone has dementia or at least a very advanced dementia, they cannot sign a durable power of attorney appointing an agent and this necessitates a conservatorship. So we recommend that everyone get a durable power of attorney in place and of course if you have any questions about durable powers of attorney or other estate planning documents you are welcome to call our firm. We are located in downtown Walnut Creek and specialize in Estate Planning Trusts, Probate and Conservatorship in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.

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