A Power of Attorney is a document that allows you as an individual turn appoint someone to “standing your shoes”.   What do I mean by this?  I mean that I could appoint you to act on my behalf for certain transactions that are contractual in nature.  

There are two types, limited or unlimited

I can limit the appointment  to a particular transaction, for example  I might be going away for a few weeks and need someone to sign some documents for the purchase of a car or a house on my behalf.

I can also have an unlimited Power of Attorney allowing you to attend to all maner of things on my behalf, speaking to my landlord, my bank, my electricity company, or my gas company.  Basically you can attend to any conduct any contractual function that I can do myself. However, if I have an accident or become ill and loose my “legal capacity” (ie am no longer able to make decisions for myself), then the appointment will end immediately.

What about an “Enduring” Power of Attorney

You can also make the appointment “enduring”.  What does this mean?  It means that the appointment continues even if I lose legal capacity to do those things I have listed above due to injury or illness.  This would be known as an “Enduring Power of Attorney”.

A Power of Attorney is only one of the documents that you need to have as part of your Estate Planning Documents.