Meurer & Potter Law Office, Denver, Colorado

If you’re unable to conduct business due to a mental or physical incapacity such as Alzheimer’s, stroke, or other medical reason, who will act on your behalf? At the Meurer & Potter Law Office in Denver, we will help you set up a Durable Financial POA (Power of Attorney) to protect your best interests and financials.

Without a Durable Financial POA, a court appointee step in, and here in Colorado, your loved ones will have to seek a conservatorship where one of them is appointed to act on your behalf and make financial decisions. However, once the court gets involved, it will usually stay involved until you recover or pass away. The court, rather than your family, will control how your assets are used for your care.

This public process of seeking a conservatorship can be expensive, invasive, time-consuming and difficult to end if you recover. It effectively results in probating your estate twice, once at the time of incapacity and again at your death.

A Durable Financial POA allows you to name someone to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. IT MUST BE “DURABLE.” The difficulty with a non-durable Financial Power of Attorney is that many financial institutions will not honor one unless it is on their form. Even if accepted, it may require an attorney to become involved in order to force the institution to accept your form.

If accepted, your designated financial attorney is given complete control of your assets, and on occasion, can work too well. It is a very risky and powerful tool which should only be used in limited circumstances and given to someone you deeply trust. When used with a Revocable Living Trust, it can be an effective method of managing your assets during incapacity.

A Durable Financial Power of Attorney should include an alternate agent in the event the first agent is unable or unwilling to perform their duties. In addition, it needs to be durable in that it will continue to operate after your incapacity. Finally, it should include provisions allowing continuation of gift planning, estate planning, and Medicaid/Medicare planning.

With the help of the Meurer & Potter Law Office and a Durable Financial POA, you’ll spare your loved ones the expense and delay of going to court for a conservatorship. Most importantly, you’ll have the assurance that someone you trust is acting on your behalf.

For help with your POA, call or contact our offices today to schedule your free consultation: 303-991-3544