A signed, dated, and witnessed legal document that sets up a surrogate for making decisions.
A written agreement under which one person (the “principal”) authorizes another (the “agent”) to act on her behalf. The agent need not be a lawyer. An ordinary power of attorney automatically terminates if the principal becomes incompetent. The theory behind this is that the agent’s power derives from the power of the principal herself, and that when she is no longer legally competent (able to make decisions), the agent correspondingly loses authority to act.
A legal document by which a person identifies someone to make financial decisions if he or she is unable to perform this task independently.