A Power of Attorney for Property is a document that gives a person chosen by you the power to deal with your property and financial affairs in your lifetime. Even though the Power of Attorney for property takes effect when you sign it, in most cases your intention is for it to be used at a future date when you are incapable of managing your affairs.
Who should be your Attorney for Property? Even though the Power of Attorney for property takes effect when you sign it, in most cases your intention is for it to be used at a future date when you are incapable of managing your affairs. For this reason, you want to ensure that there are controls in place to ensure that the Power of Attorney is not misused.
The two main ways to place controls on the use of the Power of Attorney is to maintain physical control over the document or to name more than one “attorney” (keep in mind that this is a Canadian term for the person appointed by you -it is not your lawyer).
It is my practice to keep my clients’ Power of Attorneys locked up in my office so that they cannot be used without me releasing them. If requested by an attorney to release a Power of Attorney, I would contact you or if you were not capable of instructing me, I could contact your Doctor for an opinion regarding your ability to manage your financial affairs.
Or you can name two or more attorneys jointly to manage your affairs, meaning at least two signatures would be required before your Power of Attorney could be used.