Are Power Of Attorneys Signed Before 2011 Still Valid? Do I Need A New Power Of Attorney Under The Florida Power Of Attorney Act?
Durable powers of attorney signed before October 1st, 2011 are valid under the direct and express wording of the new durable power of attorney law in Florida. They could be valid, but could also still be ineffective towards certain actions. In my practice, I see that third-parties such as banks, financial institutions, and government entities do not understand and know how to distinguish between the pre-October 2011 law and the post-October 2011 law. They don’t know how the durable power of attorney statute treats and grandfathers in these documents. Occasionally, you’ll be faced with trying to proceed with an existing durable power of attorney document while getting shut down and having to work through the third-parties giving you a hard time. It creates this extra level of red tape infraction. Sometimes, the red tape infraction that your loved one will experience using that durable power of attorney will far exceed the cost of creating and updating a new durable power of attorney, especially if you’re planning on doing an estate planning update anyway. Even though pre-October 1st, 2011 durable powers of attorney are grandfathered in under the current law, using those documents may still require legal assistance that could far exceed the cost of doing a new one.
Who Should Update Their Power Of Attorney? Can’t An Existing Power Of Attorney Be Amended To Meet The New Law Requirement?
People who should update their durable power of attorney are those who haven’t looked at their estate planning for a while, and who are getting a little bit up in age or health. If you signed a new durable power of attorney in 2010 at the age of 32 after having children while still in good health, you could get away with not having to do an update or revision on your estate plan. That would be a bit more understandable.
On the other hand, if somebody who is older did all of their legal planning in 2010, and they’re no longer 65 years old, but 75, that person would be a greater candidate to update their estate planning documents. A lot of changes in post-retirement. A lot can change as it relates to the health of family members and yourself. It’s been over nine years since the durable power of attorney law has been changed, and for most people over the age of 65, it may be time to update or revise their estate plan.
The mechanic to change a durable power of attorney in my office may be different from the way it is done in other law offices, but the mechanic of doing a new durable power of attorney is actually pretty simple. Our forms have evolved with the passage of time. We have seen how other attorneys’ durable power of attorney documents get rejected. We have also seen online durable powers of attorney get rejected as well. Through that experience, we have been able to update our durable power of attorney templates.
In most cases, the main information that’ll change during a durable power of attorney creation will be the names of those you name in each document. That’s what we’re changing in the terms of physically drafting the document. Essentially, the mechanic of changing a durable power of attorney just involves a changing of names on a word document, which does not take much time behind the scenes. Of course, going over the power of attorney with you, making sure you understand it and making sure that you make correct revisions, is what actually makes up the bulk of creating the new durable power of attorney. We usually take five or ten minutes to draft a document and take much more time in explaining, going over, and executing the document. By doing an amendment to your old durable power of attorney, it is going to be a lot more challenging, time-consuming, and costly. We’d have to review the existing document and create an amendment to change each provision in the existing document. So, our practice is to do a new durable power of attorney document wholesale because it is cheaper for the clients in the majority of situations. But, the existing document can be amended as another form of approaching the law change.
For more information on Durable Power Of Attorney, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (904) 398-6100 today.
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