People in Arizona can write powers of attorney to give others the power to act for them if they become incapacitated and are unable to make important decisions for themselves. In some cases, it might make sense to draft several powers of attorney to grant the authority to act to different people in different capacities instead of trying to include everything in a single document.
Types of powers of attorney
The two primary types of powers of attorney are financial and medical. A principal who drafts a financial power of attorney will designate someone who will be granted the authority to make financial decisions in the event of incapacity. Similarly, a medical power of attorney can be used to grant the authority to someone else to make health care decisions if the principal becomes incapacitated. While it is possible to grant authority to different people for different purposes in a single document, it is better to draft more than one to avoid confusion.
Drafting several powers of attorney
If you want to give authority to one person to make medical decisions for you and a different person the authority to make financial decisions for you, drafting two powers of attorney can prevent your agents from being confused about who is responsible for making different types of decisions. If you want to further break down different tasks for different people, you can also create several limited powers of attorney. These can be used to limit a person’s authority to act in specific ways. For example, you could give one person the authority to write checks from your bank account to pay your bills while a different person will have the authority to manage your investment account.
Drafting several powers of attorney can make it easier for people to understand what types of authority that they have to act on your behalf. An estate planning attorney might help you to draft powers of attorney that will grant only the amount of authority that you want them to have.