How To Get a Power of Attorney (POA) For Elderly Parents in Florida
Many of us love living in Florida because of the natural wonders and terrific weather. Therefore, it’s no wonder that so many of our elderly parents choose Florida as the place to live out their golden years. During visits with your parents over the holidays or vacations, it can seem a little bit daunting to imagine a time when roles will reverse, and when they will soon need your help. Before they are incapacitated or no longer of sound mind, one of the more important legal tasks you can do is help them grant power of attorney (POA) to someone they trust. A POA helps ensure their wishes are fulfilled as intended by someone who is representing their interests, which goes a long way in reducing the stress of role reversal for both you and your parents. Read on to learn how to get power of attorney for elderly parents in Florida so their interests are protected.
What is a power of attorney (POA) in Florida?
A Power of attorney is a document wherein an individual of sound mind grants legal authority to another person or multiple people to act on their behalf. The individual is legally referred to as the “principal.”
As our parents age, they frequently face declining mental health or limits on their physical capacities. As such, before executing a Power of Attorney, they must still have the mental capacity to understand the meaning, benefits, risks, and consequences of signing the document.
If your parent or parents are still competent, helping them establish a power of attorney can be enormously helpful, especially if you do not live in the same state. Traditionally, two types of POA are recognized:
- Financial Power of Attorney permits a personal agent or attorney-in-fact to provide help with opening or closing bank accounts and selling titled assets like real estate, automobiles or securities, whose sale would require an authorized signature by the principal. In this way, a financial power of attorney’s signature on documents holds the same legal standing as your parent’s signature.
- Designation of Healthcare Surrogate (also known by others as a Medical Power of Attorney), permits the agent or attorney-in-fact to authorize or decline medical treatments, sometimes in accordance with the principal’s certified living will, if applicable. Absent a living will, the medical power of attorney is responsible for determining and carrying out the principal’s wishes should they become incapacitated.
According to the Florida Bar’s Florida Power of Attorney consumer pamphlet, an individual is eligible to become an agent for the principal if they are 18 years of age or older. Certain financial institutions may also serve as agent. As previously mentioned, it is important that whoever your parent(s) chooses to grant POA is reliable and trustworthy. Ethically, it is also a good idea for the agent to not have a direct financial interest with the principal—that way, they are free to perform their duties unhampered by biases or incentives beyond whatever compensation is agreed to, if any, for performing their responsibilities.
How is a power of attorney different from guardianship in Florida?
It is important to understand how a power of attorney differs from guardianship under Florida law. POAs are utilized when your parent(s) wants to grant their financial or medical decision making to an agent before they are incapacitated. It is a delegation of decision-making authority and runs concurrently with their own abilities to make these types of decisions. Essentially, both your parent(s) and the agent can make decisions on your parents’ behalf. Courts often look to POAs as alternatives to guardianship and will seek lesser restrictive alternatives before considering a guardianship.
Alternatively, a guardianship either partly or completely takes away certain powers from the principal. Guardianships are designed to help protect individuals when they become a danger to themselves or others, often due to declining mental capacity brought on by illnesses like dementia or Alzheimer’s. A guardianship results in your parent losing significant rights to make their own decisions. Accordingly, there is a much higher threshold and cost to proving their inability to manage personal affairs and assigning someone else to take over those responsibilities.
What is the step-by-step process for how to get a power of attorney for elderly parents in Florida?
One of the ways you can help your parent(s) prepare for the challenges associated with mental and physical decline as they age is to work on their power of attorney with them, well in advance, before any future uncertainties arise. Here is a useful check list of how to help alleviate their concerns:
- Always keep them at the center of this process. They drive it, you support them. Discussing their wishes openly can help maintain and strengthen the trust between each of you.
- Be as detailed as possible. This helps cover all the bases and ensures they can proceed with life exactly as they currently are, but with an added safety net of agency.
- Decide whether there will be a single person (agency) or multiple people (co-agency) acting on behalf of your parent(s).
- Make a list of the suggested powers, clearly stating who the principal is, designated agent(s), and what event or events spring the POA into action.
- Have your attorney review or redraft the power of attorney document so that it can be defended under Florida law.
- Make sure the POA is signed by the principal, two subscribing witnesses and certified by a notary, then make copies for yourself, your parent(s), and all agents so they can be easily presented when needed.
Additional considerations if you have elderly parents in Florida
After we mature into adulthood, most of us enjoy complete freedom in making everyday choices, year after year. As our loved one’s age and their mental or physical capacity declines, anxiety and fear about the future may be at the center of their thoughts.
A good start to helping them complete estate planning if they become incapacitated in Florida is drafting a power of attorney. After that is complete, the conversation can expand into how a living will, last will and testament, revocable or irrevocable trust, and healthcare surrogacy all help to further protect their interests. If you run into any challenges with your POA, have questions, or need help, just call (904) 257-8543 so we can meet with you and your parent(s) to help.
