A financial power of attorney and an advance medical directive are the two documents that decide what happens if you are alive but cannot make decisions. They matter more often than a will does, because incapacity is more common than people plan for and it arrives without warning.
A power of attorney names someone to handle money and property. An advance medical directive names someone to make health care decisions and records what you want if you cannot say so. Both only work if they are signed while you still have capacity, which is the entire reason they cannot be put off until they are obviously needed.
Details matter here more than in almost any other document. Whether the authority starts immediately or only on incapacity, whether your agent can make gifts or change beneficiaries, and whether a bank will actually accept the form all come down to drafting.
The articles below cover Virginia’s forms, the powers worth thinking hard about before granting, and what happens when no one holds these documents and a court has to get involved instead. To have them prepared, see our estate planning services.
